Unfortunately, at a time when he should be celebrating knowing way too many people right now that he didn’t know last year, trouble has been tracking him like its got a GPS. In January, he was shot during an armed robbery. In the last two weeks alone, Waka was involved in a brawl with a group of Young Jeezy’s associates at the Atlanta sneaker spot, Walter’s, as well as eight teenagers being shot at a concert he performed at in Gary, Indiana. Complex caught up with Waka while he was on road doing shows and preparing his debut, Flockavelli, to see how Gucci is doing, find out about the scrap at Walter’s, and whether slowing down a little is something that’s crossed his mind.

Interview by Toshitaka Kondo

Complex: You grew up in Jamaica, Queens until the age of nine. What New York rap were you listening to?

Waka Flocka Flame: Lost Boyz, Ja Rule, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane.

Complex: Who’s your favorite rapper?

Waka Flocka Flame: I’m a student/fan of Tupac. It don’t get no better than him. But I never quote it, that’s just the real deal. I don’t want nobody to feel salty, but that’s just the real deal. Homeboy had lyrics, but he was more simple raps. He was reality.

Complex: What’s your favorite Pac song?

Waka Flocka Flame: “Keep Ya Head Up” ‘cause when shit just be fucked up, I feel like nothing but thunder going on in my life with the things I’m going through, that song told me to keep my head up.

Complex: You only started rapping a year ago?

Waka Flocka Flame: Two years ago. I was 21.

Complex: Growing up, what kind of kid were you?

Waka Flocka Flame: Gangbangin’. We’d be runnin the streets, fightin’. The average knucklehead kid. I was into basketball and drug dealing. That’s the only thing I was surrounded by. If I was surrounded by doctors and lawyers, I’d have been a doctor or lawyer. I was good at basketball, though. That was my first love. I’m 6’5 ½”. Small forward. I ain’t like high school ball. I was playin’ AAU. High school wasn’t for me. Also, I never got along with the coach. I was just disobedient. I didn’t like runnin’ suicides for somebody else.

Back in New York, a cousin of mine was bangin’ Blood, and I joined him. So then my Uncles and them, they ain’t like that. So I moved to Atlanta. They wasn’t into that. They told me, “Get the hell outta here. Go to Atlanta.” My mother moved down there, and I moved down there with her. Then I met up with some older muthafuckas, gangbangin’, but not no bloods and crips. It was like on some neighborhood shit.

Complex: Who was the first person that told you that you should rap?

Waka Flocka Flame: Nobody. Everybody told me, “Don’t do it. You don’t need to be doin’ that.”

Complex: Given that your mother and manager, Debra Antney, manages Gucci Mane and Nicki Minaj, you never had the urge to rap?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah. Never. They was all my partners. Gucci was in jail though [at the time].

Complex: When did you actually first meet Gucci?

Waka Flocka Flame: A couple years before that when I was like 18, 19.

Complex: Have you had a chance to talk to Gucci since he’s been locked up?

Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah, I talk to my boy every day.

Complex: What has he been doing while he’s been away?

Waka Flocka Flame: Writing a lot, and getting ready to drop his new street album next month.

Complex: What’s the name of the album?

Waka Flocka Flame: I can’t give away the good secrets, man! [Laughs.] It might be a retail release or a little street album. I’m not sure yet. He got a couple [features]. You can never tell what he got. But I know it’s coming out the middle of the month.

Complex: This is stuff I’m assuming he recorded before he went in, right?

Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah.

Complex: Have you been visiting him at all?

Waka Flocka Flame: I can’t right now because we on the road, so we got a nice little phone relationship right now.

Complex: When’s the last time you visited him?

Waka Flocka Flame: Three and a half, four weeks ago.

Complex: When is he supposed to get out?

Waka Flocka Flame: I think it’s April.

Complex: What made you want to take rap seriously?

Waka Flocka Flame: I started getting shows, and folks started hitting me, like the fans. I put a mixtape out called Salute Me or Shoot Me, Vol. 1. I recorded off a PC computer, and just the mic in the corner in my mama’s garage, it was just me and my boy Tay, who used to produce, and we just went crazy from there.

Complex: Did you let your mom hear it?

Waka Flocka Flame: Nah, my mom wasn’t into it. She said, “You ain’t making no money. You gotta go hard.” Then my music started taking flight. Who better to manage you than your mom? People were hitting her up, and people automatically figured that’s my manager.

Complex: When you first got the beat for “O Let’s Do It,” how fast did it take for you to record that song?

Waka Flocka Flame: 10, 15 minutes.

Complex: Did you know it was a banger right away?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah. Other songs of mine go harder than that. “O Let’s Do It” is just pop. That shit came outta nowhere. For real, a lot of people didn’t even know that was me. They thought it was just some other guy. [Laughs.] People walk down the street and saying, “I didn’t know you was the one singing ‘O Let’s Do It!’ I love that song!” I be like, “Oh, for real? Shit, I like it too.” [Laughs.]

Complex: When did you realize that the song was going to pop off?

Waka Flocka Flame: When I was in the club in Atlanta, Figure 8, right by Greenbriar Mall, and the club went crazy around.

Complex: How big of a deal was it when you first heard Diddy shout you out on the remix for “O Let’s Do It”?

Waka Flocka Flame: I feel good, man. We gonna shoot the remix video in Georgia, on the South Side, around Riverdale and College Park. I ain’t heard Diddy rap like this since Biggie.

Complex: You had an interesting line in “O Lets Do it,” where you say, “Ever since they killed my nigga Trap/Start poppin pills and actin’ crazy.” Can you explain that line?

Waka Flocka Flame: We was in the same clique. We’ve been running around together. He was a young dude. Younger than me. He got murdered. Got shot in the head with a Tech 9. It had to be like a couple years ago. I had to be about 19, but he was about 17. I had a lot of death in my family. My little brother and my dad died. When he died we didn’t know what the fuck to do. I’m dealing with it going through Ecstasy pills, more smoking, and more drinking.

Complex: Was his death a gang-related or a drug-related thing?

Waka Flocka Flame: Nah, the guy who did it just did it. Nobody know what the hell he did it for. He just did it. He got locked up for it. He shot my partner in the back of the head. He was shooting at everybody else in the house. They were playing cards. Supposedly, they went inside the kitchen, right? And Trap turned around and he just shot him in the back of his head.

Complex: What happened with your father and brother?

Waka Flocka Flame: He got incarcerated and he died when he came out of jail. We’re not too sure on that. My little brother was 10 years old. He got hit and ran over by a car. This happened in 2000.

Complex: Shifting to the recent XXL Freshman cover, people were saying they felt you should be on there.

Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah? I don’t care. Man, I ain’t into that. A lot of people are entitled to their own opinion. I can’t say nothing about that. I can’t get mad ‘cause folks don’t feel like I’m not a freshmen. I keep doing me, go hard, and one day you get respected for your talents and if you don’t, you don’t. That’s what we call life.

Complex: You’ve spoken in previous interviews about reading a lot of books…

Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah, I love to read. Like, brainiac books. Philosophy. Glad you know that. War shit. Like Art of War, Art of Seduction. Just good shit like—I think I read a lot of stuff.

Complex: Got it. You were involved a robbery recently where the alleged assailant took a picture that popped up on the Internet with him wearing your chain. Did that bother you?

Waka Flocka Flame: I don’t feel like they took it. Taking it is snatching that joint off my neck. They ain’t do that.

Complex: Do those types of videos and pictures seem silly to you?

Waka Flocka Flame: No, it don’t matter to me. I like it.

Complex: It doesn’t discourage you from rocking your chain?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah. I just copped a new chain. You ever heard of Fozzie Bear from Muppet Babies, that says, “Waka waka waka waka”? I got that. That’s my new shit. Got a lil yellow Fuzzy with the yellow watch green, and shit.

Complex: I had read that you got hit on the head with a bottle at a club one time?

Waka Flocka Flame: Oh, well you know I’m a wild cowboy. I go to the club, party, drink, shit…I don’t know. I’m a cowboy. I love to fight.

Complex: [Laughs.] What do you like drinking in the club?

Waka Flocka Flame: Strong liquor. Patron. Hennessey. Four, five margaritas.

Complex: I was reading about how you got struck with a baseball bat one time?

Waka Flocka Flame: We were playing a game called “Inner Hawk” where you under-hand pitch the baseball. It’s like playing baseball, basically. And I cot-damned smack the ball out of and started talking shit. We got in an argument, and I threw the bat down and I swung on him. And then I don’t know how he ended up with the bat, but he swung on me with that muthafucka.

Complex: You’ve also had your head rammed into a steel gate?

Waka Flocka Flame: Oh, hell yeah. You know back in elementary school you was telling, “Yo Mama” jokes? I was talking about this nigga’s mama at lunch, like, “I’ll fuck your mama!” And he was a big, big, big-ass 5th grader. When I was coming out of the school, I was walking with my girl and my hand was over her shoulder. He just jumped on me from the back, and head-locked me. When he jumped on me, he was in a running motion, and he slammed my damn head into a steel gate.

Complex: Speaking of fights, you recently had one at Walter’s with some associates of Jeezy. What happened?

Waka Flocka Flame: A lame nigga called Slick Pulla tried me, walked up, snuck me, my partner dropped him, and all hell broke loose. I walked in there, and we caught eye contact. He said a couple words and I knew he didn’t have it in him so I started walking off. He turned around and walked in another direction. I went to go buy some pants, and Slick ganged up on me on the low, snuck me on the left side of my neck. It just popped off. He was not the person who put a little black eye on me. It was probably someone he was with. I just came back at them. I don’t want no one thinking he did something to me.

Complex: Everyone was really surprised because Gucci and Jeezy recently ended their beef.

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell yeah, I’m surprised. That’s what I’m thinking. I don’t know what to say about it. It don’t got nothin’ to do with no Jeezy and Gucci. It’s all about Slick Pulla.

Complex: Okay, so this isn’t going to re-ignite the beef with Gucci and Jeezy?

Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah, that beef ain’t got nothin’ to do with them two. That ain’t got nothin’ to do with this. That’s not how nobody over here feels. It’s just me and buddy, that’s it.

Complex: Did you have problems with Slick from before this even happened?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah. That’s another rumor. Talkin’ bout we got into it in Miami. I ain’t never in my life seen him before that time. He trying create a buzz ‘cause I guess his career dead. That ain’t how you do it ‘cause I ain’t with that hip-hop shit. He emotional, that’s how I look at it.

Complex: Did you talk to Gucci about the whole situation?

Waka Flocka Flame: Gucci ain’t thinking about it. He just said, “Handle your business, do what you gotta do, bruh. Fuck that. That’s the problem with success.”

Complex: Everyone saw those pictures with you with the band-aid and they were like “Damn, what happened to Waka?”

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell yah! I’ma do that! Of course! I ain’t finna hide. I got snuck. Slick Pulla ain’t bust my eye. Someone did something from the blind side, from the right hand side, and hit me in the eye. When I turned around to see who did it, I just seen them in the background runnin’.

Complex: Did you get Slick at all?

Waka Flocka Flame: Who that? You talkin’ about Martin Lawrence? [Laughs.] [Editor’s note: Waka’s Martin reference is probably related to this tweet] I don’t know, it wasn’t me man. I ain’t do nothing. It was my arms.

Complex: Are you concerned about seeing Slick again?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah. Them folks don’t go to no clubs. They only go to three clubs: Velvet Room, Miami, and Dream. If somebody wants somebody, they can get ‘em. This shit is America. They know my shows [dates] on the Internet. They just want publicity, that’s what it is. I’m about money. I got family and friends. We talkin’ about the shit we tryna build over here. We monopolizin’. We on that Donald Trump shit over here. I don’t know what kinda shit they on.

Complex: There’s no hard feelings towards Slick then?

Waka Flocka Flame: Fuck that nigga. Real talk. I don’t got no hard feelings for him, but it’s fuck him. I ain’t finna look for him, travel for him. I won’t even give a nigga that much time. There’s 24 hours in the day, that nigga can’t even get a minute. That nigga a duck. I ain’t finna look for no duck. I’m good. Let him worry about getting out the half-way house.

Complex: The other thing you were in the news for was at your concert in Gary, Indiana, where eight teenagers were shot. What ended up happening there?

Waka Flocka Flame: Shit, I don’t even know. They said somebody was firin’ shots. They said eight little kids got shot. I ain’t have nothin’ to do with that. My blessings go out to all their families. I ain’t gonna let it happen again. If there’s something I could do, I’d help, but I ain’t have nothin’ to do with that. Why would I encourage “Little Kid” gang violence? Thirteen, 14, 12 years old, eight years old get shot. Come on, man. I ain’t even on that. They can’t say we caused that, ‘cause Gary, Indiana is known for gettin’ it poppin’.

Complex: So were you around the venue when the shots starting going off?

Waka Flocka Flame: I don’t know, I probably was [around], but I ain’t hear nothin’ ‘cause I was in my tour bus. I got video recordings of me leaving. I even had a little kid on the stage rockin’ my jewelry rappin’. I ain’t even gon’ feed into it. Real talk, if I was gonna have some little kids pop off, I would have them pop off on some other niggas. But that ain’t even how I rock anyway. I pop my own shit off. If I’ma pop somethin’ off, I’ma do it. I ain’t finna have no little ass kid do it.

Complex: Has your mom talked to you at all about the incidents?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell yeah, my mama been concerned about my life. That’s a mama. We cool with it, bro. It’s life. I’m dealing with it. That’s the only thing I can do. I can’t complain about it. Can’t do nothin’. I gotta just handle every situation that comes in front of me accordingly. Everybody be thinkin’ I’m just wild, crazy, loose moving, and militant. I think about everything I do, everything I say. I strategize.

Complex: Right.

Waka Flocka Flame: I don’t know why people over here be thinkin’ that I’m wild, dumb, and ignorant. They got me fucked up. And I like them for thinkin’ that, so when I do songs, they gonna be surprised, like, “Damn, Waka could do that?” Like that interview [about] Method Man, everybody was shocked that I said that. They belittling me, them folks. They think a little bit, they don’t think a lot. They expect Kanye West to be brilliant, right? When Kanye West does some stupid shit, they gonna be mad as hell like, “Damn, that ain’t like Kanye!” That’s just how people look at you.

Complex: Would you say all these incidents over the last couple weeks has made you considered calming down?

Waka Flocka Flame: Hell nah! It ain’t like I come out here lookin’ for trouble. I ain’t doin’ no lame shit like that. All these incidents, they don’t make me calm down. I call this shit livin’ the good life. I got shot, get into a fight, hey man, this shit fun.

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Every artist has pivotal events that alter the course of their career for better or worse. Cydel “Cyhi Da Prynce” Young, experienced one of those events on February 16th of this year when Kanye West posted his mixtape, The Prynce Of Jacks, on his blog. In one day Cyhi was transformed from an anonymous rapper signed to Konvict Music/Def Jam—slowly building his buzz with impressive appearances on songs like Yela Wolf’s “I Wish (remix)”—to a hot new Atlanta rapper everyone wanted to find out about.

We’re happy to report after listening to Cyhi spray regal street parables over an amalgam of classics, new and old, abusing everything from Pharcyde’s “Passing My By” to the Clipse’ “Popular Demand (Popeye’s),” that the attention is well-deserved. While his job is amply filing up his daily planner these days, Cyhi took a break from working on his upcoming debut album, Hardway Musical, featuring Akon, T-Pain, and production from DJ Toomp and Drumma Boy, to talk to us about how he grew up, linking with Akon, and just how big a deal Kanye West’s co-sign was to him…

Interview By Toshitaka Kondo

Complex: How’d you come up with your name?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Me and the Prince of England where born on the same day, same year, and we share the same name. My middle name is Charles and The Prince of England’s name is Charles. My real name is Cydel, so I took the “del” off my name and added the “hi” from highness.

Complex: What part of Atlanta did you grow up in?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I grew up on the East Side in the Stone Mountain, Decatur area. It was a fairly diverse area. Our parents were the first parents who really had a chance to get good jobs in the ’80s, ’90s and had a chance to move away from the ‘hood. As anybody knows, you move enough black people to any area and it turns back into the ‘hood. When I first moved to my neighborhood it was all white people. Five years later we was all black.

Complex: How did you get started rapping?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I was a good poem writer. I used to like a lot of girls in school so that was my way of getting them. I started probably around sixth grade. A dude from Philly taught me how to put it all together and how to put it into actual bars—song structure. I knew about song structure, because I was in the school choir. I just didn’t know how to actually write raps in bars.

Complex: Were you going around school battling kids?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I used to rap for jokes, but everyone was telling me, “You need to rap for real.” By the time I got kicked out of school, I had nothing else to do but rap.

Complex: When did you get kicked out of school?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I left school probably about ‘02. I was around 15, 16. I was just always in fights, cussing teachers out, and skipping school.

Complex: What kind of kid were you growing up?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I really dreamed of sports. I was all-county track and football. When I was in the 9th grade I played varsity tailback and receiver. I ran the 400 and the 800 when I ran track. I just couldn’t stay in school.

Complex: After that, instead of going to another school you started rapping?

Cyhi Da Prynce: They said I could go to alternative school, but I knew it wasn’t for me, because there was a whole bunch of badass little niggas. I was thinking to myself, how am I going to do this? I met a homeboy that I used to always hang with. He was a fairly wealthy young man. He had everything a kid could want. He had a studio over there, so I just got to writing raps.

Complex: So from 16 on you were just trying to get on as a rapper?

Cyhi Da Prynce: It was a lot of trials, because rap has so much to do with the streets. They work hand and hand. I was deep into the streets. People listen to my music and want to know why I’m so passionate about it, because I’m not a street nigga. When I had met my partner I had got so deep into it. At a young age, I didn’t know I was in this deep. A lot of things I used to see in the streets, I wasn’t cool with what we was doing. I did it just because we needed some money. In the drug game, friends breaking and entering, robbing, armed robbery, everything.

Complex: During that time period, you never got locked up or anything?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I never did no serious time. Because rap always saved me. I used to have powerful people on my team so luckily sometimes I had great lawyers, managers, and friends help me get out of certain situations. I knew it wasn’t for me. It was too many of my friends getting shot. Everyone was getting robbed, and me robbing. My partner got life. My other partner shot twice. I just knew I had to do something different.

Complex: Who were some of the powerful people that were helping you early on?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I was in a group called Hoodlum signed to Sho Nuff/Def Jam. That was about three or four years ago. I was signed through Noonie and Jazze Pha. When I mean powerful people, different street dudes that had money that would probably pay for a lawyer. It was cool if I ain’t have no other talent. If I was just an ignorant dude, or a dude who didn’t have nothing else to do, I could be in the streets all day. But if you know you the man in construction, why not do construction, before you go to the streets. A lot of guys look at the streets as the first resort to making some money. I look at it as the last resort.

Complex: Once you linked with Noonie and Jazze Pha, the Def Jam deal happened pretty quickly?

Cyhi Da Prynce: It happened almost simultaneously. We got with them, and a week and a half later we were signed to Def Jam.

Complex: You signed as a group and what ended up happening?

Cyhi Da Prynce: It was just different things within the group we had differences on. I was with them for so long, and I was offered so many solo deals that I turned down, just for being loyal. It was getting strenuous for me. I couldn’t get no money, then that’s when we went back to the streets. We were the only ones with the work. So everybody was trying to rob us, and we were shooting it out and everything with everybody. I had to step out on faith. Everyone knew me for being one of the best rappers in the city, though.

Complex: When did you decide to leave the group?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Maybe about ‘08 I decided to leave the group. I had to pay my way out of my [Def Jam deal]. Once I got signed to Konvict, Def Jam had another showcase, and they signed me again.

Complex: Is that when you linked with Greg Street?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Greg knew me from the first one. Greg is like an angel to me. I don’t even know how this dude even got here. [Laughs.] He’s like Superman. He saved the day. He heard a song I did called “Sweet Georgia” and he played it. It got so many e-mails and responses, and he’s been a consultant, mentor, and my DJ. He helps me through all this. He has a lot of relationships so he just introduces me to those people.

Complex: Is he the one who introduced you to Akon?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I knew Akon through the streets. People don’t know Akon is a real street dude. People just think he just sings. He was really a convict. He was really rolling with some street dudes. I knew him through a few street dudes, myself. I just met him. Then I was cool with his little brother, Bu. Me and Lil Zane stayed in the same neighborhood. Bu used to be the hype man for Lil Zane. My partner named Botchey formally introduced us again and I said, I got some music you might want to check out.

Complex: You gave Bu your music and he liked it?

Cyhi Da Prynce: My past record label, I let them keep all my music. I had no songs to shop. I read The Secret and watched the movie. I made a goal, in two months I’m going to have a deal. I had one in a month and a half. I went and recorded 25 songs and gave them to [Bu]. Rest in peace Dolla—he helped me get signed as well. Him and Bu were like brothers at the time. Dolla didn’t like a lot of rappers. Especially someone trying to get signed to the same label. Me and Dolla was from the same side of town. I knew him from the East Side. I knew him through the streets as well. He was like, “You should sign him” and then they signed me.

Complex: What were you doing for those 2 years to get your buzz up?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Most dudes in this day and age in rap, they have a buzz first then they go get a deal. They have a record already spinning in the club, then they go get a deal. I was getting deals off rapping. I didn’t get signed off songs. I gave them my songs after they was already interested in me from freestyles. Both times I got signed to LA Reid it was off my freestyles. When I signed to Bu, off of freestyles.

Complex: Did things start to take off immediately after signing to Konvict?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I was signed to Konvict for about a year. It was cool. But then they seen I wasn’t making the average music that an Atlanta rapper would make. That was kind of a pause, a stand still. He’s not what we thought he was. When they seen I was way more soulful and way more intelligent than they thought I was—it kind of threw them off. They didn’t really know how to market me. That’s when I met Greg Street. Greg was like, “When I first met Jay-Z, no one got Jay-Z. When I first met Kanye, no one understood Kanye. Even with T.I., when I was trying to get people to understand T.I., no one ever understood us. You’re getting the same response, so keep it up.” [Laughs.] That was the first time I had someone explain it to me like that.

Complex: Def Jam already has Fabolous, Young Jeezy, and Rick Ross. Is it hard to get attention for your project?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Not really. I liked being the underdog. I was always the one. I knew I could rap, I knew it was gonna be hard for me, but I wanted to be in the upper echelon of rappers. I never wanted to be known as a local rapper. Not downing anybody, but you know Gucci, that’s cool to me, but I want to be massive. I want to be Kanye. I want to be Eminem.

Complex: But a lot of people think Gucci is the hottest rapper right now.

Cyhi Da Prynce: People who don’t know the music industry. People who are fans of the music may think that. But people who know the music don’t think that. People that are fans of the music, they don’t know what actually goes on behind music. You hear all these dudes talking about what type of deal they got, $3 million deals and they cutting these type of checks, this and that. I know the real. I’ve done had the deals. Can’t too many people say they’re getting more money than Akon. He don’t be on the plane for less than $250,000 [a show]. How much money y’all getting? As fans we don’t know that. In this music industry, if you can’t rap, if you ain’t got no lyrics you’re not lasting long. I haven’t met one rapper with no lyrics that lasted longer than two to three years. They come out, you never hear from them again. T.I. got five albums, Jeezy got four albums, Kanye five, Jay-Z ten, Eminem seven, and DMX six. That’s the type of artist I want to be.

Complex: With fans considering Gucci the hottest rapper, wouldn’t you want that type of adulation as well?

Cyhi Da Prynce: No, not to me. An artist like Lupe Fiasco hasn’t had an album in three years, and he still gets 25 to 50 grand a show. You ain’t never see him down here. A young lady told me this one time, and I stick to this until I die, especially with music. “Would you rather be the first or the best?” As a youngin’ I was thinking I want to be the best. “No, there’s always someone going to come around who can be better than the best. You want to be the first. No one can ever forget the first.” No matter how many baseball players or black baseball players ever come through the major leagues, you’ll never forget Jackie Robinson. He don’t play no more, but there’s so many people who give him grants, and gifts, he’s straight. Jackie Robinson can never go broke. You feel me?

A DJ told me one time, I listen to your mixtape, it’s really disrespectful to even play your song in the club. Most rappers just rap about Friday and Saturday. Them the only days of the week they rap about. I rap about Sunday, Monday when your door gets kicked in, Tuesday when your partner got shot, Wednesday when your girl just had an abortion, Thursday when you can’t make bond for the weekend, so you gotta stay in there the whole weekend until Monday when you can see the judge. You feel me? That’s what I rap about. I rap about why T.I. banged up. I rap about the real shit, I don’t rap about the monkey shit. All the jewelry. You see the dudes in the club with the jewelry on, who probably have all of $200 in their pocket. But it be my partners with no jewelry on with 5 racks in their pocket. I always knew it was just monkey shit. I was never a monkey. I was raised fairly well, just because I got in trouble didn’t mean I didn’t have morals. I don’t do all the tattoos, all the ear piercing. I got one tattoo. Tats on your face. I can’t go to my momma’s house like that. I’m a prince for real, I don’t look at myself as a rapper, as a gangster, none of that. I don’t even wear jewelry. You gon rob me, you gon rob me for nothing. I have a fly outfit, you might have to strip me down or something. My shoe and outfit game is stupid. I’m not a flashy dude. I turned my chain down. People don’t know that. I told Akon I’m straight.

Complex: Did he get offended?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I don’t know. [Laughs.] I don’t think so. They knew who they were signing. I never need a chain around my neck. I had that since I was born. I have an iced out G-Shock, but I got this as a gift. I wouldn’t have bought this. If someone want to rob me for this I’ll give it to ‘em. [Laughs].

Complex: Kanye put your mixtape on his blog. Did you know it was going to happen beforehand?

Cyhi Da Prynce: I still ain’t even talked to the dude. [Laughs]. That was such a blessing. I just want to give him a hug, say thank you or something. I’m still speechless about that one.

Complex: How did you know he had done that?

Cyhi Da Prynce: Somebody on Twitter hit me. “Yo, Kanye just posted your joint.” I didn’t even know he had a blog. That’s really the only way he’s communicating with the world right now, ‘cause he ain’t got a telephone or nothing. For him to do that three days straight. He put one video up of me when I was doing the [“I Wish (remix)”] with Yelawolf and Pill. Then he put my original video up. Then I dropped The Prynce Of Jacks, it wasn’t even supposed to be promoted like that. He put it up on his site and it blew the whole roof off it. It’s been like, Wow. Ever since then it’s been hectic. I never knew that someone co-signing like that could change my life. I’m a living testimony that it can.

Complex: Do you know how he got your mixtape?

Cyhi Da Prynce: He’s a real internet savvy, dude. He’s a sneakerhead. At the end of the day he liked Yelawolf. He was checking for Yelawolf’s video. I just happened to be on Yelawolf’s song. He was like, Who’s this dude on the second verse? Then he went and looked up the rest of my videos and my songs. He saw that and put me on his site. I’m thinking this is a publicity stunt, too. Next thing I know NO I.D. called. That’s how I knew it was real. He said, “Kanye is really vibing with you. He likes all your songs. He’s a big fan of you. He’s hoping y’all could work together sometime.” All this is still sinking in for me. It’s not a publicity stunt. I was hoping it was. [Laughs]. I was prepared, but I wasn’t prepared for everyone to come that fast. [Laughs]. When you’re really saying something it’s hard to come through. When you’re really saying something it’s going to be hard to break through in this game. Real musicians and hip-hop fans respect you. That’s what I do it for. I don’t do it for the money. I’m gonna wait to cash out on the end. I don’t need the fast check. I’m straight.

Complex: Another new rapper in the Yelawolf video that people really like is Pill.

Cyhi Da Prynce: I fuck with Pill. That’s my guy. We at the same shows because of the Yelawolf record. We just start kicking it, being friends. I respect his lyricism as well. I love rappers who go against the grain.

Complex: I noticed like Pill has done with 4180: The Prescription and 4075: The Refill, the beat selection on your mixtape is a good blend of classic beats in addition to the new ones.

Cyhi Da Prynce: When I fell in love with hip-hop, my favorite rapper was Jay-Z. But I used to like Common and Nas. But I was a South dude. So I grew up on UGK, Triple Six, Outkast, and Pastor Troy. That’s where I get my lingo, my slang, my passion. My lyricism comes from understanding that you can go further with your raps. When I first heard Jay and all them, I realized I wasn’t rapping hard enough. I threw away all my notebooks.

Complex: Which record of Jay’s?

Cyhi Da Prynce: When I first heard Reasonable Doubt. I’m not rapping as good. We were rapping real simple like the down South rappers. We don’t rap like this, we don’t sound this clever. I knew I had or step my game up if I wanted to be known in the upper echelon of rappers.

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Even with two wildly successful mixtapes, A Matter of Time and One Foot Out the Door, and a hit single “Drug Dealer Girl,” which cast the lovely Rosa Acosta as a sexy on-campus kingpin, the producer-turned-performer exudes an easygoing nature, and has impeccable etiquette, and a great sense of humor. While in New York promoting his upcoming currently untitled debut album, and preparing for a sold out show at the Gramercy Theatre, Complex sat down with Mike to speak about balancing classes and a music career, scoring the theme music for his alma mater’s basketball team, and living out his dreams…

Interview by Modele “Modi” Oyewole

Complex: You’ve made a lot of progress from when you dropped A Matter of Time to today. What’s your motivation?

Mike Posner: I just think about what’s ahead of me, man. My favorite Duke player ever is Steve Wojciechowski. He called me one day congratulating me on my success thus far, and I was like, “I appreciate it, but man, please don’t congratulate me. I know when you guys start the season, you’re not just trying to be 10-10 or ACC champions, you’re trying to win it all.” I’m trying to do the same thing. If my career was a basketball season, I’m in the pre-season still. I’m not blowing everybody out by 40 –- there’s so much work to be done, and there’s no time to really sit and look back and be proud of what I’ve done yet, because it’s the pre-season still.

Complex: Did growing up right outside Detroit, a city full of musical history and influence, help mold you as an artist?

Mike Posner: I was really lucky to grow up in an extremely diverse neighborhood. I grew up in a city called Southfield, and it’s one of the most diverse cities in the country. Just from the different socio-economic statuses and racial and ethnic groups I was around, I was around all different types of music from the beginning. Even between my parents, they listen to totally different types of music. My mom listens to people like Ricky Nelson and Sarah Brighton, and my dad listens to The Grateful Dead, BB King, and Luther Vandross. And being from Michigan, it’s like Motown runs in everybody’s blood, so I think you can really tell why the music sounds the way it does, because I grew up around so many different types of music, and my sound has kind of become this patchwork of different genres and artists that I like.

Complex: We did a little digging and came up on Reflections of a Lost Teen, the mixtape you dropped when you were a high school senior.

Mike Posner: You did! [Laughs.]

Complex: Yep. A lot of your fans would be surprised to find out that you were a rapper before a singer.

Mike Posner: Well I think like a lot of kids from my generation, I grew up when hip-hop was at its peak. It’s kind of in a tough place right now when you look at the swing of things. Not to say it’s not gonna come back, but you know. I was a hip-hop cat, grew up listening to hip-hop and what not, and that was the music I made in high school. It was pretty bad. [Laughs.] But two years ago, I was bad at singing, and I’m a lot better now. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t been making music back when I was 13, 14.

Complex: Not everybody can balance both school and their career at the same time, and it’s admirable how you handled both. How’d you end up at Duke?

Mike Posner: I applied to Michigan; that’s where all my friends went. I applied to Emory, the University of North Carolina, Duke, and Northwestern. I got into Michigan, and I didn’t get anything from any of the rest. But from the minute I visited Duke, I was like, “This is my number one. If I get in here, I’m going.” So I eventually got into Duke and called all the other schools, was like, “Yo, I don’t wanna take anybody else’s spot, I am not coming to your school. Thank you!” [Laughs.]

Complex: What was it like within that crazy ACC environment? Campus must have been crazy with both the academic rigors and exceptional Division I athletics.

Mike Posner: Duke is in extremely competitive environment. In my high school, I think I got one B my whole four years. I was used to being the smartest kid in every class I was in, and then I went to Duke and suddenly I was the dumbest kid in every class. Everybody there is up to something. My manager was like, “Why can’t you just get an intern up there at Duke?” And I was like, “Dude, you don’t understand!” The kid in the dorm next to me already started a company, and the one next door is drafting some computer software programs. Every kid is a genius, you know what I’m saying?

A really large percentage of kids from Duke go to work on Wall Street, and they make a lot of money, but they’re almost slaves to their jobs, working crazy hours. Their job totally dominates their lives, and most of them aren’t happy. So many of my friends are going down that path. I even thought about it for a second, like “Should I be doing that?” But I just pursued my dreams instead, and I always tell people to do that. Now I make more money than they do, and I’m doing what I love.

Complex: You graduated early from Duke in December. three and a half years, 3.59 GPA, and you did all that while touring and performing in over 35 cities in that last semester. How’d you get everything done?

Mike Posner: It definitely wasn’t easy, and I knew it was gonna be hard going into it all. I signed my deal over the summer, and when that happened, I was like, “Man, I’m not going back to school!” [Laughs.] But then my mom was like, “There’s no way you’re not finishing.” It would’ve been a huge problem, and we probably wouldn’t even be on speaking terms. That’s how serious she was. But it was definitely tough, man. Most people go to college to get a job, and here I am sitting in class with a job, making exponentially more than whoever’s teaching me, you know what I’m saying? At the end of the day, I wanted to finish what I started, and make my mom proud. A lot of people put a lot of hard work and investment to allow me to go to school, and for me not to finish would have been like a slap in the face to my family and those people.

I kinda coasted at the beginning of the semester, but at the end, you know you gotta kinda get serious. I think I turned down like one or two shows at the end, which always breaks my heart. I hate turning down shows. But yeah, it was tough! [Laughs.] I really buckled down, bro. It was kinda like muscle memory at that point, like I had been getting good grades for so long. I just to go to the library, turn the phone off, and write the paper.

Complex: That’s impressive that you jumped from academic grind mode to music industry grind mode so gracefully.

Mike Posner: It was really hard! [Laughs.] Sometimes I’d get caught up, too. There’s this terrible invention they made, this mini portable keyboard that I have to take on planes and stuff, and I left it in my backpack once. So I’m in the library, and I have keyboards out and my headphones out. Everybody’s like, “Mike are you making beats right now?” and I’m like, “Yeah…sorry!”

Complex: That’s awesome. So is the fact that Duke made “Bring Me Down” the official song of Duke basketball. Cameron Stadium is a historic sports landmark. How does it feel to be involved with the basketball program?

Mike Posner: Dave Bradley, who’s the head of recruiting for Duke basketball, reached out to me. At first, it was really open-ended. They just wanted to start a relationship with me. The problem they were having was when kids Duke was recruiting went to visit on other recruiting visits, the other schools would trash Duke and say, “You’re not gonna have any fun there, it sucks,” and so on. It’s not true, but that’s the rap we get. So I guess they just wanted to align themselves with me because they thought I could help with that, and I was, “I’ll help you guys in whatever way I can.”

They were making this video and they needed a song, and I was like, “I’ll do a song, but it’s not gonna be corny.” I’m not gonna be saying player’s names in it or anything like that, and they said, “Alright, cool. Do whatever you want.” I already kinda had this idea for a track. The track obviously has significance to me too, because I was coming off my first tape, and it was kinda like, “Okay, what are you gonna do now?”

I feel like people didn’t understand where I was about to go. And a lot of people still don’t. That song was me telling them, “Hey, I’m just getting started.” But it made perfect sense to the team as well, because they haven’t been where they’ve wanted to be in recent years. They’re trying to say, “We’re still Duke,” and it was a perfect fit. I’m friends with a lot of guys on the team, so it just made sense.

Complex: Speaking of packing venues, you have some pretty rambunctious fans. What happened with the fiasco at the Kentucky concert you did a while back?

Mike Posner: These are the craziest ones, at the schools where they’re supposed to hate Duke because of our sports teams. Maryland, we sold out, it was a crazy show. We did Chapel Hill, and it was sold out too, crazy. In Kentucky, the venue was taking super long to let people inside, and the show was sold out before the night started so there’s 1,000 people in line, It’s freezing cold out, and they’re taking two to three hours to let people in. So I’m on the phone screaming at people, like, “Let the kids in!” They already paid, get your shit together, you know? I was doing everything I could to try and let people in. They came to come see me and they weren’t being let in in a timely fashion. You pay to see a show, you deserve to come inside, you shouldn’t have to wait two or three hours outside. That’s ridiculous. They did what I probably would have done and broke the door to the venue down. Twice! It was crazy.

I’m just proud of my fans for demanding what they deserve, which is a great show, which we eventually had later in the night, and that’s what I do this for. It’s for the people who are breaking doors down to party with me.

Complex: Who are some of the people in the industry that you respect the most?

Mike Posner: When I was a junior in college, before I ever had anything poppin’, I met Asher Roth. He was just starting to pop off at the time. I was bored one weekend, getting sick of Duke, and he was just like, “Yo dude, come over” so I went and we partied at his house in Atlanta for Halloween. That was fun. He’s always been a really cool dude to me, even before I really had anything going. He listened to my music and was like, “You’re gonna be a problem, watch.” Obviously I respect Big Sean, who was kinda going through what I’m going through, but I got to watch him for like a year or two, and definitely learned a lot from him. I’m not sure if he did, but I feel like he didn’t have anybody as close to him as he is to me, you know what I’m saying? To watch before he did it. He’s a friend. Always has a smile on his face, and anybody who meets him always leaves happier than they were before. I learned that from him, and we had the opportunity to put smiles on people’s faces.

Complex: A few weeks ago, there were reports that your equipment got stolen from your studio.

Mike Posner: It did.

Complex: Sorry to hear that. Any developments in that story?

Mike Posner: No. It’s gone! [Laughs.]

Complex: Damn! Did you lose any music?

Mike Posner: I didn’t lose any music, it was all hardware. They knew students lived in that house, and the semester was over, so I think they knew nobody was gonna be around, and they jacked the equipment. They took other stuff too, like TVs and stuff from my homies. It was kind of like a blessing in disguise, because two weeks ago, I had no stuff besides some clothes. I had 50 pairs of shoes and they only took Jordans! [Laughs.] I didn’t really have anything besides my clothes, so I was like, “Alright, I’m gonna move to LA”, which I wanted to do for a long time. There was really no point in staying. I didn’t have any stuff, so I just did it. I decided on a Sunday, and Wednesday I was moved in.

Complex: That’s good to hear. So uh, a little off topic, but did you ever have a drug dealer girl?

Mike Posner: No, I actually thought of that song in the shower. There was a shampoo bottle in there that said Maybelline on it, and I thought of the first line, “You may never be in a Maybelline commercial”, and then I thought of the second line, “but you always let me know when you got some purple” [Laughs.] It just went from there. I rushed through the shower, ran to the piano, and wrote the whole song.

Complex: Wow.

Mike Posner: Yeah, man. But there are a lot of drug dealer girls out there! I meet them on the road, and I meet guys that have drug dealer girls too.

Complex: How did you get Rosa Acosta in the video?

Mike Posner: I saw her in the Drake video for “Best I Ever Had,” and she caught my eye. I knew she had to be in it. We have some mutual friends, I reached out, and she came down to Duke and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Rosa’s schedule was crazy and she was only available for like a day and a half. The label told me we could find another girl, but I insisted on her.

Complex: What can fans expect from your album?

Mike Posner: The album is going to be like my mixtapes on steroids. I’ve gotten so much better at singing and making music and it will show on my album. As of now there are no features. I want it to stand on its own. If there are features, it will probably just be one.

Complex: What is the best part of being an artist?

Mike Posner: Just getting to do what I love. A few years ago, I was supposed to have an internship somewhere in the summer, but instead I was in my mom’s basement making music. I’d be like, “Mom, I’m going downstairs to work.” She’d be like, “What are you talking about? Go get a job!” Last summer, I was home for a few days. I said, “Mom, I’m going downstairs to work,” and she said, “Okay.” That’s the best part.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR MIKE POSNER’S “DRUG DEALER GIRL” CO-STARRING ROSA ACOSTA

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As of late though, Nickelus F’s name has been ringing bells due his association with fellow rookie rapper Drake, our current Cover subject. Drizzy has heaped on the praise, citing F as a huge influence and one of the reasons he began to rap. F has shown himself worthy of the accolades, dropping a string of impressive mixtapes including Heathen, Thank You, and the Portishead-influenced R.A.R.E. (Reliving A Real Experience). Complex took notice, including him in our list of the game’s most underrated new rappers. Nickelus recently took time to talk to us about his upcoming mixtape Season Premiere, how he became an exterminator, and his collaborative process with Drake…

Intervew By Toshitaka Kondo

Complex: What’s your next project going to be called?

Nickelus F: Season Premiere. I’ve done like 65-70 references we’re cutting it down to like 16 songs. I want to have it out in about two months. I want to get all the videos and artwork done. It’s pretty much all-original [production]. One of the main producers I’m working with throughout all of it is this guy Stephen Skeeter from Portsmith, Virginia. I also got some production from Elite. I met up with him in New York and he blessed with a lot of beats. Rich Kidd from Toronto, he did some production on it. The only vocalists on it rapping with me is XV.

Complex: For people who aren’t familiar with you, can you tell the people how you got started?

Nickelus F: I started rhyming at a real early age. My father’s in the military, so we moved like every three or three and a half years. I was born Portland, Oregon. Then we moved to Berlin, Germany, then we moved to Hampton, Virginia, then we moved to Charlotte, Virginia then we moved to West Virginia, then we moved to Richmond, Virginia. I saw a lot and I just started rapping. I started taking it seriously in 6th grade.

Complex: Did you come up battling?

Nickelus F: Yeah, definitely. Anytime like another school would come over for a football game, niggas knew I would be battling whoever they brought. I would go to other schools and be looking for they niggas. Then the Source thing happened by a stroke of luck. I wasn’t even supposed to be in it. You were supposed to be 18, and I was 17. I won it for Virginia and I went up to New York and I lost to Shells.

Complex: After the Source, the next big break you had was 106 & Park?

Nickelus F: Yeah. 106 & Park came randomly. I had just moved to this new apartment, got a new job, and my man called me like, “Yo, you got to go to New York tomorrow.” And I’m like “I can’t go to New York tomorrow, I just started a job. I got to go to work.” He’s like, “Nah, dawg, you got to do it. This is 106 & Park. This could really be good for you.” I called my boss at ten o’clock that night like, “I’m not going to be in in the morning because I’m going to New York to battle on television. I promise I won’t do it no more.” But when I came back he was excited for me. And we worked something out so every week I could go up there.

Complex: What were you doing at the time?

Nickelus F: Terminex. Exterminating. I’m still currently an exterminator. I hope to be out of it soon, but that’s what I do. Just the other day I was crawling underneath a house and my head bumped a dead rat that landed right in front of me, a big one. It’s a regular thing. I crawl under houses and face a snake and all that. And they pay me decent. I mean, everything I do I try to be the best at it. I’m not just a termite technician, I got my commercial license so I can train the next nigga.

Complex: How did you get into that?

Nickelus F: Monster.com. At first I was very hesitant about it. I’m not an insect-type dude. I smash them joints quick. I ain’t never ran from them, but I ain’t like ’em. I never necessarily thought about working with them. It really ain’t as bad as it seems. I always rapped and worked. Before it was Terminex, I was moving nine-foot, $100,000 pianos up spiral staircases. I messed some up dropping them.

Complex: How much did being on 106 & Park help your career?

Nickelus F: It didn’t do much in terms of like, I didn’t get no deal. But it did expose me to a whole lot of people. That’s what I’m grateful for about the situation. That’s all I really wanted from the beginning. All I really wanted was the exposure. I wasn’t really expecting to get a deal out of it. At the time, I wasn’t all the way together with my music. I didn’t capitalize on opportunities I could have capitalized on.

Complex: How did the Portishead-inspired R.E.A.L. come about?

Nickelus F: Actually it came out when I was working on Heathen. The producer of the record “Somebody’s Watching Me,” Ivory Thomson, sampled a Portishead record. I was like; “Yo what is this sample?” I can’t remember what song it was off the top of my head, but it was just so crazy. I loved it so much. It was everything I would like to do musically. The sound of it was dark and it had a lot of atmosphere to it, but it also had this angelic-type voice singing over it. It was kind of like an angel in chaos. So that night I bought all of their CDs on ITunes, off that one song, loaded those songs into my iPod and that’s all I listened to for like a month straight. And what I noticed was that there was a lot of open instrumental space in-between the singing. So one day I was freestyling over it, and that’s how the “Robes” record came about. I was like this is too much for me not to do it. I was working on all at the same time. I actually got in contact with the dude from Portishead, Geoff Burrow, and he heard the project and he loved it.

Complex: A lot of people may have first heard your name mentioned with Drake. I heard you guys met on Myspace. How did that actually happen?

Nickelus F: Yeah, it was a random Myspace email. He said he liked my music and wanted to do a record. It was the “Money” record.

Complex: Did you know about him from Degrassi?

Nickelus F: I had no idea who he was. But I checked his screen and saw he had a lot of followers, and I listened to his music. He could spit, so I was down for it. So I did the record and it came out good and we did more records. And we always kept in touch after that.

Complex: He says you’re the reason he started rapping. But if he was already spitting, what do you think he meant by that?

Nickelus F: I don’t know, I take it as a compliment. I don’t know what he meant by that but you get inspiration by all different types of people. And who knows what was going on at that time. The first CD of mine, Cut The Check, he told me he loved it. Ran it back and back and back.

Complex: There was also an original version of “Forever” that you were on, right?

Nickelus F: Yeah, kind of. He sent me the record, told me to send him a verse for it. I did a verse and sent it to him. But it didn’t come out with me on it. It came out with him, Wayne, and Kidd Kidd. It was completely different when they officially put it out. I thought [Wayne] went ham on that original verse. It was so raw. I was like, “Damn!” I just personally felt he went in on that verse better than the new verse. The new verse is hot, too, but I felt the first verse was better.

Complex: Did you cut any records for So Far Gone?

Nickelus F: Nah, I had went up there a few times and we had studio sessions. Most of our work was via email. I went up there for the “Replacement Girl” video shoot and went up there another time just to kick it and what not. But as far as So Far Gone, he did send me a record but it didn’t end up making it on the project.

Complex: Drake has said he bounces ideas off of people. He names you as one of the people he used to do that with a lot. How would that whole process work creatively?

Nickelus F: He would send me a record and ask me what I would do on it. If say like, a hook was needed or something, I might throw an idea and he might switch it up a little bit. And go back and forth like that.

Complex: Have you ever helped him with a verse?

Nickelus F: Yeah, I’ve contributed. I’m a team player. I won’t say I wrote a verse that he spit verbatim, but I’ve contributed. I helped out with the hook on “City Is Mine” the hook on “Overdose On Life.” I didn’t do anything on the verse at all.

Complex: Oh, so it’s like sometimes you might help write a hook, or if it’s part of the verse you might help start off a verse, or write some of the verse?

Nickelus F: Yeah, I’ve done that. I know the rumor going around. I don’t want anything I say to be misconstrued. I helped out, you know. [Laughs].

Complex: So anyone who says, “Nickelus F writes for Drake” would be mistaken?

Nickelus F: Yes. Have I done work here and there? Yes I have. Do I write for him on a regular basis? No. Have I written for him on a regular basis? No.

Complex: But you have written for him before?

Nickelus F: Verses?

Complex: Yeah.

Nickelus F: Yes, I have done a verse. Not a bunch of verses. I have helped out with hooks and one verse in particular. But I don’t write no verses for him.

Complex: What was that one verse in particular?

Nickelus F: I don’t want to say! [Laughs].

Complex: Was it well known?

Nickelus F: Yeah, it’s well known. I don’t know if I necessarily want to put that out there. That’s my homie at the end of the day.

Complex: Could you say what project it was on?

Nickelus F: Yeah, but it would kind of give it away.

Complex: Wayne spit a Drake verse at the Grammys. People know Wayne writes his shit, just like people know Drake writes his shit. If there’s a verse that he spit that’s yours, or that you helped him with, it’s not going to be like, “Oh my God! Drake doesn’t write anything because Nickelus F wrote one verse for him.”

Nickelus F: Well, it was on the So Far Gone retail version. I’ll just say that much. I don’t want to say what song.

Complex: Was it “Fear”?

Nickelus F: No, it wasn’t “Fear.” I ain’t have nothing to do with “Fear.” I ain’t have nothing to do with anything new that he’s working on.

Complex: Are you credited on the liner notes?

Nickelus F: No, I am not credited. Not credited yet. We’re working it out though. We talked about it.

Complex: It wasn’t anything on “Best I Ever Had” though?

Nickelus F: No, it wasn’t anything on “Best I Ever Had.”

Complex: “Successful”?

Nickelus F: Nah, I didn’t do anything on “Successful.”

Complex: “Houstonlantavegas”?

Nickelus F: Nothing on “Houstonlantavegas.”

Complex: “The Calm”?

Nickelus F: Nothing on “The Calm?”

Complex: “Uptown?”

Nickelus F: Nothing on “Uptown.”

Complex: It’s got to be “I’m Goin’ In” then?

Nickelus F: [Laughs]. I didn’t say that.

Complex: Have you been working with him on Thank Me Later?

Nickelus F: Nah, I haven’t worked on Thank Me Later at all. I think he’s just a perfectionist and he doesn’t want to settle. I think he’s going to try to get the best material that he can get. I don’t know anything past that for real. That’s just my take on it.

Complex: How much has him blowing up, helped you? He shouts you out so much, how much has that helped you in terms of your exposure.

Nickelus F: It’s helped a whole lot. I can’t necessarily say I’ve had more label interest, but I’ve just had a lot more people come to me and everyone wants to extend a helping hand. And now a lot of people that are now in support. Just from a loose association. It’s been a big help for me. With the success of So Far Gone, people go back and they want to know about the past of somebody. So they go back to hear his old projects, and they hear Room For Improvement and they hear me on it. I just believe if I stick to my guns and do the music that’s in my heart that it’s going to connect. It’s going to connect, eventually. A lot of people have just been speaking on me to other people. I always say, everyday I expect good news and good things for 2010.

RELATED: Complex’s 10 Most Underrated New Rappers (featuring Nickelus F)
PLUS: Drake’s Cover Story: The Interview, Gallery & Video

Her image is that of a constantly tipsy, vaguely crazy, and sporadically talented rock star—and it seems to be working for the public. After appearing on Flo Rida’s fist-pump anthem “Right Round,” Ke$ha’s own hit single “Tik Tok” recently became both the most downloaded song by a female artist in history and Billboard’s first #1 single of 2010. With her debut album Animal dropping tomorrow (January 5), Ke$ha is definitely a woman to watch. We sat down for an interview and got her take on beards, hangover remedies and the sex appeal of quarters. It’s about to get weird…

Interview by Valeriya Safronova

 #1: WHAT IS YOUR NUMBER ONE DEAL-BREAKER FOR A POTENTIAL BOYFRIEND?

Ke$ha says: Beard. It’s just really important. A man without a beard is no man, in my opinion. He has to have a beard.

Complex says: What about if it’s a goatee?

Ke$ha says: : Well it depends on the level of upkeep. Like if it’s a mustache with the curls, it’s negotiable. But definitely, facial hair is a must.

 #2: WHAT TYPE OF FOOTWEAR WOULD COMPLETELY MAKE YOU DISMISS A MAN AS A POTENTIAL HOOK-UP?

Ke$ha says: Probably white tennis sneakers. They’re just really gross. They make my skin crawl.

 #3: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RAP ALBUM?

Ke$ha says: Beastie Boys’ License to Ill. The president of my company compared my music to a combination of Madonna and the Beastie Boys. I grew up on the Beastie Boys and I’ll watch their videos and they’re just so funny, and they’re just having such a good time, it’s infectious.

Complex says: How do you feel about the Madonna comparison?

Ke$ha says: I’m down for that too. She’s a babe. She really paved the way.

 #4: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COMFORT FOOD OR HANGOVER REMEDY?

Ke$ha says: Just start drinking again.

 #5: WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE APHRODISIAC FOR YOU?

Ke$ha says: Like what makes me wanna do it? Aside from a great beard? This is really weird: quarters. Like a bucket full of quarters. If I feel a bucket full of quarters—I don’t know why, I think it’s like the pirate side of me—I wanna make out with dudes. It turns me on.

Complex says: How often do you put your hand in a bucket full of quarters?

Ke$ha says: Well, just because my ex-boyfriend had a laundry machine and when he took out his bucket of quarters, I was just like, “Whooo! Let’s do it!” So weird.

 #6: WHO IS A CHILDHOOD CRUSH THAT YOU CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAD?

Ke$ha says: Well, see, my number one—still to this day—is David Spade, circa Joe Dirt. It’s really embarrassing, but I’m kind of proud…and I would still hit that.

 #7: WHO IS YOUR FEMALE CRUSH?

Ke$ha says: Probably Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, those days. She’s a babe.

• CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE COMPLEX 7 INTERVIEWS!

We know him as the dude who was co-signed by Andre 3000 and made one of the best mixtapes of the past year, 4180: The Prescription. But that was pretty much all we knew. To learn more, we invited Pill to the Complex offices while he was working on the follow up to 4180, 4075: The Refill (which dropped today, download link after the jump) to find out exactly who the man behind the music was. Read on to learn about how he came up, what he thinks of the rap game now and why he’d rap even if there was no money in it for him…

DOWNLOAD PILL’S NEW MIXTAPE 4075: The Refill HERE.

Interview by Damien Scott

Complex: Everyone knows you’re from Atlanta, what part do you hail from?

Pill: I’m from the West Side of Atlanta. But Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 1, Thomasville—I still got my Thomasville I.D. if you wanna see it.

Complex: What’s Thomasville like?

Pill: That’s the projects. I done stayed in Thomasville, I done stayed in Edgewood. So when I say I’m from Atlanta, I’m from all the gutta parts of Atlanta. I done stayed in Kimberly Courts, I done stayed at Adamsville. I been here and there all my life, you feel me? It’s great to receive the attention that I’m receiving and be able to show people the whole point of the visual, because of the simple fact that there’s a lot of people talking but ain’t really walking. For me to be able to give that visual meant a lot. To the people that were in it, it kind of uplifts them in a certain way because it’s kind of like, “Damn, somebody that’s really from here is doing something!”

Complex: As opposed to some people who just shout it out…

Pill: A lot of these guys say they’re from them places but they really ain’t from there. I ain’t ever seen them [Laughs]. And I’m from everywhere. I ain’t ever seen ‘em, at all. A few of them, a few of them cats I could vouch for that’s out the A, but a few of them I can’t.

Complex: Why did you move around so much when you were younger?

Pill: Honestly speaking, my mother was addicted to drugs. I would say from the time I was seven years old until the time she passed. May she rest in peace. She passed two years ago, I found her in Thomasville Apartments. I mean, I was always at an auntie’s house, I done stayed with a teacher, a brother, a cousin, a friend, a girl—I was always with someone. Then, you know, being in the trap and shit and traveling all your life, you really can’t get your own spot down there, so it’s like, it’s just kinda what happened…

Complex: You were bouncing around Atlanta from such a young age. When do you start selling drugs?

Pill: I went back and forth with it in my teenage years and got a little more deep in it when I got to 18, 19. I started out selling green and what not. That was just to keep a little money in my pocket, keep some fresh shoes on my feet, get fresh for the girls—for the fly ladies and what not. I know by the time I was 10 or 11, I was already smoking, already rollin’ blunts [laughs]. I was already rollin’ up like I still remember me and Lil’ Terry, Cut Throat, and I think Tre Bo’. That was the first I really hit some weed.

Complex: [Laughs]

Pill: [Laughs] A little bit after that, I started doing this thing: we used to walk around with a little sheet of paper saying we were collecting the money for the football team for a trip to Disney World—but we were hustling though [Laughs]. Of course we were scheming, but we couldn’t get no jobs at the age, so we had to put money in our pockets. That moved on to the green and the green kind of finagled into the—of course I graduated high school though, through out all of this. I was one of the first males in my family, well, actually the first male in my family to graduate high school.

After high school it got a little more heavy. I started to really see that I could make some money. My cousins were already serving yay then, but I just wanted to rap and do all that shit but they was like, “Shit, man, you need some money in your pocket.” So I ain’t have no choice. There was a time when I went straight from the studio, straight back to the trap. From the trap to the after party. I actually left from the trap to come up here, you feel me? Sometimes that’s the only place I got to go, to be honest with you, and it’s instilled in me. I gotta get away from it, of course, and I’ve been distancing myself from it because of the simple fact that I know it can be detrimental to my career. So I’ve been distancing myself from it, trying to become a better person and to teach other people not to do it, and telling them little young niggas in the hood not to do it. But, it is what it is.

Complex: At one point did you make the decision to pursue rap full time?

Pill: Probably last year.

Complex: Last year?

Pill: Probably last year or the year before that because I was still making good money in like ‘06 or ‘07 and I wasn’t spending that shit. But you know I started out rapping with Killer Mike in high school. I was on a few mixtapes with him and what not but like, say 2006, P. City was doing numbers! I’m talking about that thing was going ham sandwich—that shit was Trill! Like, bank rolls bustin’ out your pockets, we call them thigh pads. You can’t even keep it in your pocket it used to be so hard. That in itself was an addiction. Making fast money, you can go blow a thousand dollars, still make all of it back, still have money in your pockets, get fresh all week, and go make it rain. Pop bottles and all that, get in a fight and do it all again in that weekend. That used to be so fascinating to a lot of people, but to us that was just regular life. That’s just what it is, it ain’t like, “Yeah, that’s what I want to do when I grow up!” [Laughs]. You know what I’m saying? That’s what it was, nigga, that shit just was us.

Complex: Like, “I wanna grow up to be a drug dealer.” [Laughs]

Pill: Exactly like, “I can’t wait,” or raise your hand in class and be like, “I wanna sell drugs when I grow up!” [Laughs] A nigga was a victim of circumstance, that’s everybody. When you in that shit, family members done did it, everybody done did it. You know, it’s in you. You’ve been around it since you were a child. You probably held peoples bombs when you was a child or were the look out man, or did this, that, and the third, but there was always a way to make some money on the streets. It might not have always been right but when you can’t get no god damned job or when you dropped out of school…

Complex: It seems to be the only option.

Pill: A lot of people that decide they want to drop out of school probably don’t want to do shit else with their life. And I felt myself going down that same path at one point so I was like, “Man, what the fuck I’m doing?” I gotta posses some sort of talent, I gotta believe in myself some kind of way. So I need to tighten my belt up and tie my shoes a little tight and go on and go for it. And it turned out pretty good for me, you know what I mean? It’s overwhelming to me. I just want to thank everybody for fucking with me ’cause it’s surreal to me right now, man. I try to remain calm although I’m very excited on the inside. People are always like “You ain’t that excited! You ain’t that excited! How you feel? You just made the New York Times! You just did this!” I be like, you know, it is what it is, man, I’m cool.

Complex: So you said you were rapping while trapping, when did you start jotting down rhymes?

Pill: I was writing raps when I was in Kindergarden, it was always in me. I remember my first rap, that shit was like “My name is Slick Tie, I like to rap. I rap on the microphone and talk my crap. I be on time, on the line. When I’m on the microphone I start smoking the dimes. ‘Cause I’m the king of kings and I’m the cool of coolest. Step up to me? You must be foolish. Got a nine in the front and the gat in the back. Yeah, I’m a true mac.” [Laughs] Shit that was when I was five years old! That shit sounds better than a lot of the bullshit that’s out now! You can call my old elementary school teacher from when I was like in third grade because I always remember that. She used to make me recite that in front of the class, so I was always performing as a youngster. I was always on stage a youngster, like talent shows and shit like that. Playing an instrument or doing poetry. I wrote poetry, too. I played the trumpet, I wrote poetry, I played football, baseball, basketball, I drew. I did everything, nigga.

Complex: A true renaissance man.

Pill: You feel me? [Laughs] I did everything! Slung, hung, skateboarded! Nah, I ain’t really skateboard, but I tried and I skimmed my fucking self in all types of ways. I just wanted to do everything because the lifestyle I was leading as a child, I was already… I shot a pistol when I was five.

Complex: Why?

Pill: ‘Cause I was in the ‘jects. I was staying in Kimberly Courts. They were robbing people on the bus, they were robbing the ice cream truck. You couldn’t walk down the streets of Kimberly Court with out somebody taking something from you. They were finding bodies in the woods. I still remember jumping in the bushes from bullets—me and my momma. You had to learn how to pick up a pistol as a child, in case you had to use it. A lot of people is like, “I’ve been trapping and shooting pistols since I stood four feet.” Well I’ve been trapping and shooting pistols since I stood like, three feet [Laughs]. I was just spitting Tip ’cause I know he dead ass and seen it too, ’cause he was in that same lifestyle. So as a youngster it’s kind of how they do it overseas, you take the boy out to the woods and teach him how to shoot a rifle. But when it’s with us, people say, “Oh, that’s messed up!” But he needs to know, and I needed to know.

Complex: What happened the first time you shot a gun?

Pill: I shot a .40 when I was five years old. I asked my brother if I could see and he let me see it. He probably didn’t think I knew what to do with it like, “This little nigga don’t know what he doing. He probably ain’t even strong enough to pull the trigger.” I leaned up against the wall and BAH-POW! Of course it threw me back against the wall and the adrenaline rushed and I was like, “Oh, I wanna shoot it again! C’mon!” He was like, “Boy, get your ass in there, you not supposed to do that shit!” [Laughs].

Complex: How did your friends and family react when you told them you wanted to focus on rapping?

Pill: They gave me a little flack at first but then they started to embrace me a little bit more because they started seeing the older cats were like, “Stay on what you’re doing, that shit’s good.” ‘Cause I started performing right in the trap, at this place called The Ham. You know, “Trap Goin’ Ham,” all that shit. So that was the first time I did that and I brought back to the hood and they were like “Yeah!” I incorporated a few of my peoples names into my raps ’cause of my problems and niggas started to get behind me. They started to come to my shows and it made me feel good because at first they were like, “Aw, this nigga ain’t trap no more, that nigga want to rap! He don’t want to get money no more!” I was still around though ’cause that was the only place I had to go at the time, so of course I would still pick some up or chop something up or drop something off, just to keep some money in my pocket. But I had to make sure that my goal was in sight. I had to make sure there was a bigger picture and that I could be a better man than I was being. Once I brought the CD to the ‘hood, they were like, “Oh shit, that boy Psych! That boy Psych finna’ blow up!”

Complex: Psych?

Pill: They call me Psych in the hood. It’s short for Psycho.

Complex: Where’d the name Pill come from?

Pill: Pill came from football. And I just finagled it into the medicine because as I started to get more serious with the rapping, I was like “Okay, Pill the medicine. I’m the cure for rap cancer.” I was saying that years ago. First it came from football. Julian DeMario Johnson gave me that name. Him and Jamal Johnson. Lil’ Mario, we used to call him, he died in an accident, years ago. I scored a few touchdowns and Jamal would be like, “Oh, here’s the Pill!” ‘Cause that was his name for the football. Like throw me the pill, pass the pill.

Complex: Your first mixtape, 4180: The Prescription, is what got everyone interested in you. How did that tape come about?

Pill: I just basically made sure I had a bunch of tight ass beats. I knew I had to get some classic shit that people ain’t heard in a minute, I had to get some shit that everybody ain’t rapping on, and I probably had to get one or two of the hottest songs on the radio. I wanted to make sure I did me. I didn’t want to compromise my creativity by just trying to put out a bunch of shit that’s on the radio or a bunch of shit that I think people might like. I did what I think I might like. I ain’t record in no big time studio or no shit like that. I recorded that shit in a basement. I just had a tight ass engineer with some expensive equipment and we set up the studio in the basement. He had a nice studio in his spot but his spot got broken into. So I was like, “Damn that just fucked up my studio!” So we had to bring him from Alabama, a guy by the name of Scrag Lee with grade A music. He actually produced “Trap goin’ Ham”, thats why you hear “Grade A on the beat”. We brought him from Alabama, set up shop, went in, non-stop.

Complex: One thing I liked about the mixtape was your sense of remorse about the trap life. It’s not glamorized or glorified…

Pill: That’s something I do anyway because I don’t want the other kids to follow in my footsteps. There’s a lot of young kids that look up to rappers and I’m starting to realize that kids are going to be listening to me. Of course I’m going to talk about what I talk about but I’m going to find a way to stick a message in there. I am going to talk about the trap and I am going to talk about the struggle and I’m also going to talk about how we need help and I’m also going to let people know that it’s fucked up out here. It’s ugly. Ain’t really much money for not many people, in whatever profession they have. I just want to uplift the people, man, I wanna be the sound track to their lives. I want to be able to make the people feel like they were right there with me when I was going through it and so they can have better judgment on the decisions they make coming up, whether it be adults or kids, young and old, whoever the listener is, I want to make sure that they can take something from my music and apply it their everyday life.

That’s why I made sure in that mixtape I incorporated all types of beats to show people my versatility on each type of beat so they won’t try to put me in this box of “just some nigga that sold dope and rapping about it.” I’m trying to enlighten some people about the shit that’s going on and that we need help out here and it’s fucked up cause they tearin’ the projects down. I got some new shit I just did with ILLFONICS about my mama. She passed away and it took a lot for me to write that song. I want people to get in my mind. Walk down those same streets I walked down or stand in front of the same stores I stood in front of or running from the police—I want them to feel like they’re running, so it can be exciting. It can make you laugh and it can make you cry. I want it to be timeless music. When I do it, that’s not even something I think about. It’s something takes a hold of me and it just comes out. If that’s what comes out then I’m glad.

Complex: You have a very intricate rhyme style, who were your rap influences?

Pill: Of course Tupac. Of course Biggie. Jay-Z, he was always real fly with it, a fresh kind of dude. Then you got Raekwon, Redman, Method Man.

Complex: A lot of New York dudes…

Pill: A lot of New York rappers and what not but then again you have OutKast, who were god damn huge to me. To hear OutKast, to hear Cee-Lo, to hear MJG, to hear Devin the Dude, Too Short, to hear Scarface. I listen to everything. I had the Fat Joe tape when he was still with Tommy Boy and they had the little characters on the back. Whatever was poppin’ at the time, whatever was good. I can’t even front like I was always listening to gangsta’ shit. I mean I took a liking to Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek. I remember when Talib and Hi-Tek had that video in the rain and shit, you remember that shit? Of course Common was the shit, I still remember his beef with Ice Cube. I listened to Cube, N.W.A. was always the greatest. I remember I thought Eazy-E was the coolest motherfucker walking the earth and I wanted them shades! I really got a Jheri curl when I was a child. Seeing that and being able to remember that music is good because that’s when real rap was real rap. Now you got a lot of bright colors.

Complex: What’s real rap to you?

Pill: Real rap is talking about what you’ve been through. Real rap is personifying your experiences as a person and throughout life. If you can’t personify the truth, you’re not making real rap. That’s just shit that entertains the people, that’s just entertainment. Real rap is when you can really talk about some shit that really went down.

Complex: Do you feel like rap is full of entertainers now?

Pill: Yeah a lot of them are just entertainers basically. I mean no disrespect to nobody. Get your money and it is entertainment at the end of the day but damn what happened to it being art in its truest form? That’s what hip-hop used to be. You rapped about what you just did down the street. I remember seeing old tapes of shit where they were just beat boxing and shit and I was like, “That’s what I want to do!” So I automatically started rhyming. I automatically started battling when I was a child. I remember I was in a little group back when I was in first, and second grade and it was like you had to have the the tighter group.

Complex: Talk to me about your creative process. When you write a song do you actually write it out or do you keep it all in your head?

Pill: No, I write. I’m not one of them guys that be like, “Oh, I ain’t write this by the way” or “Yeah, I come off the top!” I freestyle too but I respect the art form, you feel me? I’m a writer. I could be on the train, I got to pull my note pad out. If I hear some shit in my head, I got to write it down.

Complex: What can people expect from the new mixtape?

Pill: I’m going to show that I’m growing at least a little but I don’t want to stray from the formula at all. That’s what people like, so that’s what I want to give the people. I just want to keep people jamming. I’m not going to be one of these guys who is like, “Fuck this shit! I ain’t got no Rolls Royce!” or “I ain’t got no Lamborghini! I’m mad as hell!” That’s not why I do it, I do it for the love. I’d be doing this shit if I ain’t have a dollar or if it weren’t profitable to me. A lot of niggas are claiming they’re making a bunch of money, but they ain’t off of that music shit right now because it’s ugly. Tapes ain’t selling like that. Imagine what type of loss I’m taking and I’m giving away these CDs for free! ‘Cause it’s all about the music. If people can’t hear it then what the fuck are you doing it for? If you’re just doing it for the money, then what the fuck are you doing it for? Straight up, of course I want a lot of money, to live comfortably but that’s not why I’m doing it. I got people that’s on my back right now. Family members that need me right now, homeboys that need me right now. It’s a lot of people that depend on me right now. That’s probably the only reason why I feel like I need money right now, but other then that, if I was just already straight or already rich, I wouldn’t give a damn. I’d do all free shows. But a lot of people just do it for the money and that ain’t good, man. That’s why I think the music went down with in the past couple of years. I don’t want to be solely responsible for it but I want to be credited with bringing this shit back to what it was, real music, real hip-hop.

• CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE COMPLEX MUSIC POSTS!

And wouldn’t you know it, we were right! Earlier this month, Vh1 kicked off season two of For the Love of Ray J, with Brandy’s brother once again looking for true love among 19 new contestants. If you’ve been following the first two episodes of the season, you have an idea of what Ray thinks of his new stable of women, but we wanted to go a little bit further. We got him to open up about what he thinks of each and every girl. He also hipped us to what he’s now looking for in a women, why a girl can’t just be crazy attractive and just what is going on with his music career…

Interview by Leah Tisdale

Name: Micaela Rosario
Ray J’s Given Name: Adorable
Ray J Says: When I seen her, I thought she was nice, I thought she was an adorable looking girl. She had a little innocence to her, so I was like, OK Adorable, that’s what it is.

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Name: Angeles Gimenez
Ray J’s Given Name: Caliente
Ray J Says: Yeah, Caliente! Like, I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about, but she’s hot. She can barely talk English, I almost need a translator. She’s from Argentina.
Complex: And she came all the way here for you?
Ray J Says: Yes. Si. Si, mami si.

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Name: Krista Hoffman
Ray J’s Given Name: Diego
Ray J Says: Yeah, Diego! I mean, shit, I thought she was a nice person but the top 5 R&B singers killed me, like Whoa! She brought me to the side, and I was having a little fun with a couple of the girls, and she was like, “Yo, I need to talk to you. This is it. It’s so deep. This is our connection, I need this.” I thought she was about to tell me something about her family, or about her life. So I’m like, “What’s Up?”. And she goes (in a frantic voice), “What are your top 5 R&B singers?”. And I’m like, “Huh?”. And I’m stuck for 10 minutes. And then I give them to her, and she’s just weird! So I had to let her go, cause she weirded me out.

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Name: Leia Depina
Ray J’s Given Name: Exotica
Ray J Says: She’s from Cape Verde so she’s cool. I can’t understand what she’s saying either.
Complex: If you can’t understand what they’re saying, how is it gonna work in the long run?
Ray J: Well, you got a girl and you don’t understand what she’s saying and she don’t understand what you’re saying, but the chemistry between the actions and the emotions is there. All you need to do now is try and find out how to speak the other language. Actually, it’s trying to do more for yourself and expand your culture. I’m with that. I’m with expanding in my culture, from the Dominican Republic all the way to Cape Verde. Please believe that.

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Name: Sharmisa Garner
Ray J’s Given Name: Extra
Ray J Says: Extra. Yeah, extraordinary. Extra, extra, read all about it! She’s so little, but she does so…much. Extra things (whispers).

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Name: Alison Ceglio
Ray J’s Given Name: Fettucini
Ray J Says: I didn’t eliminate her because she was a celebrity smasher. I eliminated her because she was bragging about smashing celebrities. And bragging about how hot she was, and that she can get anybody. She was just too cocky for what I’m looking for.

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Name: Michelle Abare
Ray J’s Given Name: Luscious
Ray J Says: I need a nice wholesome girl. Yes!

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Name: Bethany Lucas
Ray J’s Given Name: Flossy
Ray J Says:She’s a nice, tall little model chick. I’m cool with her. Nice smile, you know what I’m saying?

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Name: Franchelle Criner
Ray J’s Given Name: Gifts
Ray J Says: Gifts is out. I mean, Gifts was hot, but the role she was playing…I was like, “think about us, think about what our relationship would be like.” And she was just getting butt naked all on camera. I was like, “Uhhh, what’s going on ?” I was shocked.

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Name: Susana Montez
Ray J’s Given Name: Heartbreaker
Ray J Says: She’s a tough one. Macho woman.

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Name: Courtney Cameron
Ray J’s Given Name: Jaguar
Ray J Says: Jaguar, she’s a Jehovah’s Witness.
Complex: How do you feel about that?
Ray J Says: I’m cool with that. As long as people ain’t knocking on my door all day, I’m cool. You can knock, just not all day.

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Name: Undisclosed
Ray J’s Given Name: Just Right
Ray J Says: Right in the mix. She’s hot!

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Name: Taneish Simpson
Ray J’s Given Name: Lava
Ray J Says: Lava’s really intense. Nobody saw the scene, but we did this action scene, and they cut out the part when she came in with this stinking-ass onion. And she was trying to cry, but she was squeezing this onion all over. The smell of the onion was just crazy. She’s definitely in her own zone.

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Name: Connie Deveaux
Ray J’s Given Name: MZ Berry
Ray J Says: MZ Berry’s hot. I love Halle Berry, and she came in resembling Halle a little bit. MZ Berry, it’s not for Ms. Halle Berry, it’s MZ Strawberries. You know what I’m sayin? MZ Strawberry.

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Name: Adele Figueira
Ray J’s Given Name: Paradeez
Ray J Says: Aw man, the name speaks for itself. Pair of D’s.

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Name(s): Rachel Reed & Hana Franek
Ray J’s Given Name(s): Trouble & Tipsy
Ray J Says: Gone. Gone. I felt like they came here to get on Charm School.
Complex: Maybe that’s their next career move…
Ray J Says: You never know. But I don’t know Ricki Lake, and I never even connected with the situation. So I didn’t appreciate them coming on and trying to do something else.

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Name: Olia Svetlana
Ray J’s Given Name: Popper
Ray J Says: Yeah, she’s there. Popper—she’s poppin’. She’s cool.

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Name: Undisclosed
Ray J’s Given Name: Platinum
Ray J Says: Platinum, yeah. Better than gold, baby.

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Bonus Questions:

Complex: After doing season one has anything changed in what you’re looking for in a woman?

Ray J: Yeah. I wanted a woman, at first, with a classy side but with a really wild, crazy side. I wanted that because I’m wild and crazy sometimes. But that was then. Now I need less wild and crazy, like, a little bit of that element, but more class. A woman that’s responsible and that wants to take care of herself. And then somebody that wants to take care of their man, too. Just more of a responsible woman.

Complex: Like a “Ms. Independent” ?

Ray J: Yeah, shout out to Ne-Yo.

Complex: Alright, besides the onions, what are deal breakers for potential girlfriends?

Ray J: Well, the onion didn’t deal break it, it just was stinkin’. Ya know, I just want a girl to be honest. And it’s hard. We’re shooting the show, we got 28 days to try and connect. Not fall in love, cause that’s hard to do in 28 days, it can happen, but just to find that connection. When I walked in, I already narrowed mine down, but at the same time, in narrowing the ones that I like down, I start finding things out that might change my mind about them. So it’s all about getting to know these people. Sometimes the attractive girls, like Fettuccine was hot, but she was trying to boss up and be cocky. And so, I gotta let you go. Yeah, you’re a hot chick, but I wanted people to understand, it’s not just about hotness. It’s inside and out. If you don’t believe anything else in life, please believe that.

Complex: OK, what’s going on with you musically?

Ray J: We got a song that’s in the top 10 of iTunes, it’s selling like crazy. “Tie Me Down” with The New Boyz, I’m in the future baby. I don’t rock the skinny jeans, but all the kids are singing the song. So check my demographic, it’s from, like, age six to 70.

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Interview by Noah Rubin

Complex: Talk to me a little bit about the idea of Supreme Architecture.

RZA: That’s the one who comes with the illest ideas, the illest creation. An architect is a person who builds homes or structures, stadiums even. A Supreme Architect is someone who actually built the universe. So, if I say I am the Supreme Architecture, I’m letting Allah speak. I’m becoming a vehicle.

Complex: What’s the key to becoming that vehicle?

RZA: Realizing that the body is a vehicle for the mind, and that vehicle is how you travel through space. The person who exposed me to a new way of thinking was my cousin GZA, Allah Justice, the Genius. When you’re in darkness you need someone to show you what? The light. He’s the one that enlightened me—and once that wick was lit I kept adding on to keep kindling that fire. They say knowledge is like fire ’cause it breaks down things so you can see what they truly are. It’s like how a fire breaks your body down to carbon.

Complex: When GZA exposed you to those ideas were you immediately open to them?

RZA: It wasn’t like I had to be convinced. They say the truth shall set you free. When you hear the truth, it sets you free. So mathematics is truth. It adds up. There’s no error. Only time there’s an error is when man miscalculates his own problems or his own equations. Knowledge is first and wisdom is the manifestation of knowledge. To understand this tone and pattern of thinking in the numerical way automatically resonated with me. Then to hear the facts that follow through lessons you have to study, through books you get exposed to. You get an education that defeats the education you get in school.

Complex: What books are most revealing?

RZA: The most revealing books are the Holy Koran and the Holy Bible. The Bhagavad Gita is a great book as well, and the works of Buddha. These are the major influences on the world.

Complex: How did those texts influence you artistically?

RZA: Well in The Tao of Wu, we go into different stories and ways of helping you get wisdom. I tell you stories from my life that help brothers see that it’s a physical thing and a mental thing to gain wisdom. I’ll read this right from the book: “Krishna said that you can study all day and pray all day and chant all day but you get to heaven faster if you hang with the wise men.” I was nervous to even write this book, yo.

Complex: Why were you nervous about it?

RZA: ’Cause I don’t like talking about myself. Even though I rhyme about it all day, I rhyme about a lot of my strengths and my weakness as well but not these particular lessons in life. Without having to put it all into a 16-bar verse, you make it a whole page of something that happened that led to wisdom and enlightenment or that added on to this enlightenment that I have. When you first get the spark, you know you gotta keep the fire burning, it can go out, it goes out in many people, it goes out on most people. Time, age, the old abbot gotta sit still after a while, but as long as he keep the fire burning he can touch another fire, spark another person and another, that’s why in old kung fu flicks you’ll see the old abbot, he don’t come back to fight the villain, he trains a student for that job, the student comes back and destroys the villain. Bong bong. Then the abbot doesn’t have to fight. His losing is losing a lot of wisdom. That’s why so many people get in front of him.

Complex: Do you think there’s a great challenge to get beyond the initial moment of enlightenment, to get to a higher level of understanding of the world around you?

RZA: Once you’ve got an inspired spark, you’ve got to strive. You’ve gotta keep putting wood on it, so they say, to keep it burning. But then there’s the alchemist side of it, that’s the fire that’s burning but it don’t burn. It’s just a light. It’s like when a man who works out can take a blow more strongly. He has muscles protecting his body. Punch him in the stomach, he’s got a six-pack. He’s not going down as quickly as a soft-bellied kid. So, when you feel this knowledge and this spark in yourself, you’ve gotta continue feeding it. The best thing, like I already said, is to spend time around other wise men, that keeps it burning. That keeps it in every degree sharp as steel, but make sure you absorb enough to find out how it sparks from yourself, how the self starts the self. Once you’ve got that you should be free. That’s freedom, to me. Let’s look at ODB, a free man for real. His expression of freedom, his way he wanted to do was very free. One out of a million people could deter him from an idea, ’cause he was free to express like that.

Complex: Who are the people you consider most wise?

RZA: In this world? There’s strong men of wisdom in many different fields. They say 5% of the people are wise and righteous and 10% are wise but use their wiseness for wickedness or to deceive others. It’s like a magician: he knows the answer to the trick, but you don’t. He has to keep you blind to the truth in order for the illusion to work. When you’ve got that kind of wisdom and somebody else doesn’t, you can always take advantage of them. There’s the 5% of the people that are wise and righteous and I’d definitely be amongst them, building, communicating, and continuing to try and figure out how we can awaken the 85%. The 85% are walking around [like] cattle, not realizing the things we do, the violence we do; you see people falling victim to all sorts of unnecessary things because they just don’t know the way and nobody is showing them the way.

Complex: Do you feel like that’s the fundamental message of your music?

RZA: I wouldn’t say that. The fundamental message of the Wu Tang music is as vast as the ocean in all reality, but it’s still a straight path. You can take one lyric and by researching what that lyric is giving out to you, it should give you more than a day’s worth of school, maybe three days’ worth of school. I can give an example. I won’t be selfish and use myself, but I’ll just say when we say:

The pre-existence of the mathematical biochemical equations
The manifestations of God, planet air fire and water
Which are in its basic formation, solid liquid and gases
That caused the land masses, and the space catalyst
And all matter that exists and is dense
Third dimension, that must be observed through physical comprehension
It takes a nerve to be struck, wisdom is the wise
Poet spoken to wake up, the dumb who’ve been sleeping
The fourth dimension is time, it goes inside the mind
When the chakras energize up through the back of your spine
So observe as my qi energy strikes a vital nerve
One swerve of the tongue it pierces like a sword through the lung
Have you not heard, that words kill us faster than bullets
When you load negative thoughts, into the chamber of your brain
And your mouth pulls the trigger that propels
Wickedness straight from hell
From the pits of of your stomach where negativity dwell
[-From The Gravediggaz’ “Twelve Jewelz”]

That’s just one verse out of Wu Tang Clan’s catalog, more than a thousand songs. That one verse alone is enough to go ahead and do a scientific experiment to see what is going on. What is the preexistence of the mathematical biochemical equation? You gotta prolly ask me for the answer, you know what I mean?

Complex: Why do you think enlightenment is hard to get across to the people given that the situation is this drastic?

RZA: In today’s society, the forces against you are heavy against you. The whole goal is to get knowledge of yourself, but people are so far from themselves that they don’t believe themselves. In the old days, there wasn’t no more than 11 TV channels. That’s enough to save you. Now having 400 frequencies floating by every day when you walk out to every house. These different airwaves being sent out, thousands and thousands of kilowatts of energy being pushed out, whatever these ideas are. They happen everyday and you’re breathing them in. You see things on TV you wouldn’t want your children to see on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network started as a place that showed cartoons and they had kids watching it, about 8 years later you wouldn’t really want your kid to watch it because the content is adult.

Complex: Do you feel like drugs are a tool that confuse or clarify?

RZA: Drugs depend on individuals, actually. It depends on your chemical makeup and all that. Drugs can lead to enlightenment; they got whole ceremonies for certain drugs that take you to this other world of enlightenment. When LSD was made, people thought they were getting enlightened. People say Einstein was taking it. Drugs hurt, though, whether they give you enlightenment or not; they have their own effect, the side effect.

The side effects of whatever you doing is gonna determine how long you’re gonna enjoy your enlightenment. Drugs definitely induce that in people. That’s why people take drugs. You could be sitting there doing nothing, and smoke a blunt and then be sitting there doing nothing, but swear you’re doing something. When you’re bored it’s like that, but when you’re working, you don’t really get as high and you still go to enlightenment; that’s why you got the kung fu. Kung fu was made so the monks could train their bodies and move their bodies with strength, so they could be physical enough to gain mental enlightenment. Before that, they kept falling asleep when [masters] were trying to teach them.

Let’s look at some of the enlightened statues. You see Buddha, you see laughing Buddha, you see the crying Buddha, you see the sleeping Buddha, you see the tall Buddha, you see the female Buddha, you see all these different variations, these are all different kinds of personalities of different kinds of ways that they reached enlightenment. You can laugh yourself into enlightenment, you’ve got the drunken Buddha, the drunk monk, you know what I mean? That’s why you can drink yourself into enlightenment.

Complex: You got the fat Buddha, the drunk Buddha…what’s the RZA Buddha?

RZA: [Laughs.] That’s the universal Buddha.

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He just did a New York reunion show at Governor’s Island where he embraced Jadakiss (whom he’s had problems with in the past), he hasn’t flown off the handle about his placement on the MTV list like he two years ago—and yesterday, as we sat down with 50 Cent in his unfinished new office, his answers to our questions seemed more methodical than ever. While he preps to release his oft-delayed album Before I Self Destruct on November 23, we spoke to 50 about possible tension with Dre, Fat Joe’s first-week sales, pulling a gun on Diddy, and how he really feels about Jay-Z’s “no one is scared of 50 Cent” comment. Yup, some things will never change…

Interview By Joe La Puma

Complex: Okay, as far as the the new album, we’ve heard a radio-friendly single with Ne-Yo, but you also have gritty tracks like “Flight 187″….

50 Cent: “Flight 187″ is a bonus track, it’s not on the album. I started the project, and I wrote exactly what I wanted on it, and then I thought out the actual singles at the very end. The album changed, because there was a time period around December of last year, that I was ready to put my record out and I was a little anxious. I usually release on schedule; it’s usually a two-year cycle for me before I release a record. In December, I put out the “Get Up” record, and then Interscope had a transition, like the entire music business did. So the majority of the delays of this project have been readjustments to what’s actually going on, not [because] the material wasn’t up to par or completed. There’s been a transition that we experience in technology—for instance, right now we’re talking to Complex.com instead of Complex magazine. That right there shows you that things are totally changing around. Instead of fighting things, I embrace them.

Complex: Are there any other guest appearances on the album?

50 Cent: R.Kelly, that’s also a bonus cut. I kept this album shorter. I kept it down to 16 songs, so people could continuously play these songs and fall in love with them. I’d rather jump in the car from Banks’ house to Manhattan listening to my entire album. Listen to the entire record and then on our way back, listen again. I was getting that a lot when I was talking about the War Angel LP, creating content that directly impacts the actual environment—I wrote that for them. Most artists’ first album is like that because they don’t think “world music.” They think “let me make the coolest thing here, right now.” And the influences and their surroundings make them write something that reflects their experience.

Complex: Right…

50 Cent: If you looked at Ready to Die, Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic, those artists would probably tell you that that record was written for their neighborhood. Those are the records that they are working to live up to and can’t quite match because they got big. Reasonable Doubt wasn’t even a gold record. It went gold after the other albums were successful. Illmatic too. Imagine 50 Cent now with a gold record. It just doesn’t work. Those artists no longer can create the aggressive content, because they shifted their lives to where they can’t create from a genuine space.

Complex: So that’s the big difference between you and those artists?

50: The way I responded to the financial stability, it comes with being successful as an artist. My interests reflect on the struggle and how far I’ve came, versus indulging in how great it is where I’m at now. A lot of these artists write “I’m rich,” the coolest shit about being rich, “I’m at the clearport, I’m doing this, I’m doing that.” They aspire to write about luxury and to excite an audience and the demographic that comes from where they come from, saying “I want to be like him.” I write material that makes [the listener] feel like he’s like me. The guys on the corner can relate to 50 Cent in a different way because they knows that I’ve had the same experience and I’ll be inspiring to them.

Complex: People said that Blueprint 3 came off very braggadocious, just like you alluded to—Jay bragging about the stuff he has.

50: But that’s a career trait. That’s a style. The choice that he’s made as an artist. He’s done that his entire career. He felt he could shift trends with the things he’s actually saying. I mean, it’s cool, it’s an option to write that when you’re that successful. I just feel like writing imperfection instead of creating a superhero is interesting. I’ll write the things they’re not willing to say because they think it affects their “cool factor” to the point where they feel like it puts them in the box. They’re limited to what they can say and do. I don’t give a fuck. I can say and do what I want. So I write those defective characters.

Complex: So you had the big “50 Fest” show in New York recently, where you reunited with a lot of artists. Seems like that was a big step for you. Is that part of the maturation process?

50 Cent: Well, for me the New York show was an opportunity. It was actually branched revenue for Thisis50.com. And at the same time, an opportunity for me to work with artists and have them seen in the same light. There’s no middle ground in hip-hop. It’s either you’re rocking arenas or you’re getting top dollar, getting money out a nightclub. You can’t really get more than that $75,000 threshold, that’s really it in the nightclub circuit.

Complex: You originally had problems with Jadakiss because he did a song with Ja Rule. How would you feel if, after this concert, he went out and did a song with someone like Rick Ross?

50 Cent: You know what? Check this out. I have an issue with anyone who’s trying to keep someone who I deem my enemy in a good position. Where I’m from, if you have an issue with one guy and someone keeps standing next to them, just hit him too. Just kill him too. It’s just the way I use my gut. I use my moral compass to tell me when to go in on somebody. I dealt with that, it doesn’t make sense for me to continue to beat that dead horse. When the artist that I intended to destroy has completely been destroyed, why would I be bothering him? I could tell you as soon as I wrote “Piggy Bank” what was going to happen.

Complex: How so?

50 Cent: I knew Fat Joe’s pride would bring him out first, even if he wasn’t in the position to win. And he would go and go and go because he has the tough-guy aura. He’s tougher in his head than he is in reality, as far as his Don Cartagena shit is concerned. It feels great because everybody’s paying attention to them and talking on the radio about them. Mind you, while they’re going out and doing all of this talking, I’m just chilling. I’ll send them out like they’re a rap fan so they can market me. So everywhere they go, nobody cares about your record or what you’re doing. The number one question is “So what’s up with you and 50?” They’re not smart enough to come up with a new disrespectful way to talk to me because I’ve heard everything you could fucking think of. Then I move away because I’m competing with another artist, and the spotlight moves with me because I’m actually creating the material and generating the interest. So when I move to do that, you’re in darkness…to the point where you drop your album sales to 8,000 copies.

Complex: Were you surprised that Fat Joe only sold that many his first week?

50 Cent: Well, I have 8,000 friends. So that’s extremely low.

Complex: It’s very low…

50 Cent: Watch this. Want a prediction from me? I’ll tell you what a psychic told me. Triple Cs is next. And then Rick Ross is going to follow that failure. Def Jam dumped a whole lot of marketing dollars into trying combat me with Rick Ross. More money than they should have. What his numbers were versus what Jadakiss did, didn’t make financial sense. So the next go-around, they’re going to give him his fair share instead that extra piece of pie. Then you’re going to see where he really is.

Complex: You told people not to hold their breath about a collaboration with The Game. Are there still real issues with him?

50 Cent: I really don’t know Game. I worked with the kid for six days. I have bigger issues with the actual system, the company, people who work in it. Initially, people would be like, “Yo, we know you wrote the fucking records! You think we give a fuck about that?” Game built this thing on the West Coast, they desperately needed him to come out—they didn’t have anybody since Snoop. That’s what made it a good business opportunity to begin with. But I had to make sacrifices in order to have Dre put the record out, the same way they waited eight years for Dre to put his album out.

Complex: Is there tension between you and Dre?

50 Cent: There’s no tension. There will never be a beef between 50 Cent and Dre. And it’s not based on 50 and Dre’s relationship, it’s based on Eminem and Dre’s relationship. My relationship with Em is what Em’s relationship is to Dre. If I was to say something disrespectful to Dre, it would effect Em and I value that relationship too much. So I won’t say anything, I’ll never say anything negative about Dre.

Complex: Does it bother you that it can take Dre so long to mix your records?

50 Cent: Oh no, that’s just him as a producer. He takes his time. He loses interest in shit. I don’t care how great you are. He’s great, but he loses interest in himself at points. So the making of the record at this point is motivation. He’ll tell you himself that that’s what he feels.

Complex: How do you feel about him working with Game?

50: I don’t care. It’s better that you shut up sometimes than for you to actually express your judgments when you’re close to home.

Complex: Shifting gears, in your VH1 Behind The Music episode, there was a part that talked about Diddy taking a meeting with you, and him getting shook because you brought a gun to the office…

50 Cent: This is what happened. Jennifer Lopez told Puffy that I was a great writer because Corey Rooney signed me to Columbia Records. Jennifer had been exposed to my material, so she told Puff she thinks I’m somebody he should work with. I came down to write and I was in there writing a couple of joints and Puff left the actual room. There was rustling and rambling at the door and shit like that. I jumped up—when you get hurt as bad as I got hurt, either your fear consumes you or you become insensitive. So I jumped up and figured “as you come through the door, I’ll shoot your ass down right there in the door.” The paranoia heightens your senses. You start to see every little detail, every little thing. You don’t want to miss anything and have it turn out there’s someone shooting you again. When I heard the rambling outside, I jumped up, I had a Mac-10 on me. Pulled the joint out and Puff came in and looked, said, “Oh shit, I can’t do this.”As a matter fact, it was Shyne and Wolf, wrestling outside. Puff was going through that actual case when he called me in to write and I’m in his office with a Mac-10. He was like, “I can’t do that.” After the fact, I looked at it and was like, That’s a legitimate call.

Complex: How do you feel about MTV’s Hottest MCs list?

50 Cent: Well, I try to figure out what they’re looking at and what their criteria is. They pick trying to be aware of the art form. For you to leave off the highest selling rap album of the year in your Top 10, I don’t know what the fuck your criteria is. That’s Em’s project. If you don’t have a rap record sell more copies, how could you miss that rap record? It’s just people’s personal preference. Fuck if MTV does a Top 10, everybody has their own Top 10. As long as you’re on the list, you’re straight.

Complex: A lot of people felt that Eminem should’ve been on the list, just off of the strength of his verse on “Forever.” You said a few weeks ago that Em didn’t even know who was going to be on that record…

50 Cent: He didn’t know everyone who was on the record. And it was remixed, they remixed his vocals. When I make records with Em, Dre mixes my vocals in the beat, then sends the beat, and Em sends his vocals until it sounds the way he wants it. Then we wrap it up. So he did his verse on the actual song, they moved it around, put other people on and he didn’t even mix his vocals back yet.

Complex: He didn’t like that?

50 Cent: Well he doesn’t like not being able to hear himself the way he wants to hear himself. So those are somebody else’s ears saying “this sounds like good Eminem” instead of Em’s.

Complex: Someone who made the list who has actually been through some real street shit like you have is Gucci Mane—how do you feel about his placement at #6?

50 Cent: I understand Gucci Mane has something that the other artists don’t have, and that’s authenticity. Because he’s had the experience, they’ll glorify it. Think about how many times I’ve been asked, “How does it feel to be shot?” That’s their personal interest, their amazement in the situation. I don’t ask people, “Ask me how did it feel to be shot. Could you ask me what I was thinking when I was shot?” If it was up to me, it would’ve never happened. I see where they see significance in the content, based on them knowing that the backdrop of a story has some truth to it. These are the things other artists completely lack. Like Rick Ross is exactly the opposite of a Gucci Mane. I’ll listen to Gucci Mane despite what his cadence choices are. As opposed to listening to a Rick Ross, who is talented rapper but is lying. I just don’t want to hear rappers rapping lies. I don’t want to hear that shit.

Complex: Getting back to Jay-Z, who ended up #1 on the list. Much has been made of his recent comment saying “no one is afraid of 50 Cent.” Regardless, it seems like the general public agrees that Kanye wouldn’t have pulled that stunt if you were on stage instead of Taylor Swift…

50 Cent: He wouldn’t. You can’t convince the public, you can’t convince Kanye to say he would’ve did that. If I was there and he did that to me we would have had an altercation. Right there. It’s clear. He [Kanye] would have avoided that, just being intelligent. The interviewer who asked [Jay-Z] about the Kanye situation made him feel like a punk. His presentation is really simple and you can’t have both. You can’t be gangster Jay from Marcy and be the good guy Jay-Z on Oprah. You just can’t. They don’t let you in. That’s Mr. Knowles, he just got that pass. There ain’t any tickets to an inauguration ball with niggas. If you’re from the hood, you have that element or that aura around you, there’s no tickets for you. It’s “safe” people there. This is why those things are happening. This is why he has to convince the person that he’s talking to he’s not afraid of anyone.

RELATED: 50 Cent Talks “Power” Cologne And Drake Comparisons (June 2009)

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Since we obviously couldn’t challenge his real-life game, we had to check his gamer credibility. We chatted Derrick up about NBA 2K10, his thoughts on the unlockable player Kanye West, and his team’s plans for next season. If you haven’t already purchased NBA 2K10, peep Derrick’s trailer after the jump. Oh and make sure you’ve got 60 bucks in your wallet, because yeah, it’s that good…

Interview by Andrew Rivera

Complex: Are you a big fan of the NBA 2K series?

Derrick Rose: Yeah, I’ve always been a fan, I’ve been playing it for a long time. That’s probably the only game I really play right now.

Complex: Did you have any particular favorite growing up?

Derrick Rose: No I didn’t really have any growing up. I had a lot of adventure games growing up, but I caught myself up on 2K games.

Complex: Since you’re on the Bulls, we’d guess you probably use them more now, but did you ever have a preferred team?

Derrick Rose: I actually don’t play with the Bulls, I play with the Lakers and I guess my fans play with the Bulls.

Complex: The draft feature is a big deal. Everyone is buzzing about making their own character and in a way raise it through the summer camps and D-Leagues. How close is the game to the real-life experience?

Derrick: Oh it’s real close. Its kind of like personal on the game. You actually do stuff that you really do in the combine. Really I didn’t have to do that much because I think that the top five or six players don’t really have to do that much but on the game you play against each other in scrimmage, work on your skills, and hopefully you’ll get drafted. On the game, if your player’s that good you can transfer him over to the 2K10 game.

Complex: Other than the draft, what would you say is your favorite aspect about 2K10?

Derrick Rose: I played it a little bit and I like my jump shot on there now.

Complex: Was there a problem with it? Did they not make it up to your standards?

Derrick Rose: Nah, it wasn’t great at all last year. [Laughs.] This year it’s following my style a little more so I’m happy about it.

Complex: Does it look better or does it play better?

Derrick Rose: Everything is better. Looks better, the play style is better, and the visual on there you can tell they really put some work on there. Like they made my jumper better but they changed my crossover a little bit more. They put some crossovers there that I did in the game and I like it. I go up in the hole, you can change your lay-ups a little bit more in the game. Pull up below the shoulders, you can do all that stuff in the game.

Complex: That’s cool. You had mentioned before that you don’t play with the Bulls, so what’s it like when you have to play against yourself in the game? Is that a conflict for you?

Derrick: Yeah, it is kind of hard. You want to see yourself be good but I still want to win the game. So if like somebody dunks on with me with myself I’m kind of mad about it, I’ll probably have to stop for a little bit. [Laughs.]

Complex: You use the Lakers, so how about when it’s you playing as Kobe and you have to dunk on yourself?

Derrick Rose: Its funny only because when I’m playing the game it’s amusing. [Laughs.] But you gotta know it’s just a video game. In real life I won’t ever jump early for the block.

Complex: There are some unlockable players in the game, including The Game, Wale, and Kanye West—rappers who all claim they play a fair amount of ball. How do you think a one-on-one game with you and Kanye West would go? In real life, would you just destroy him?

Derrick Rose: Yes! [Laughs.]

Complex: But he’s Kanye. His hometown is Chicago, the same town you play for. Can’t you take it easy on him?

Derrick: [Laughs] Nah, it doesn’t matter, it’s over. That’s not his field. That’s like my going into the booth and trying to write 16 bars to go against his.

Complex: So basically it’s a stay-in-your-lane thing?

Derrick Rose: Yes. Absolutely.

Complex: You were on the cover of Kicks magazine. Do you have any favorite kicks of all time?

Derrick Rose: Of all time? Nah, I don’t have any of all time. Adidas are putting some out right now that I like. I like all shell-toes and they really have some hot ones coming out that everyone is going to really enjoy I think. But other then that I don’t really mess with sneakers.

Complex: Who is the most famous celebrity that you’ve played NBA 2K10 or the previous 2K games against?

Derrick Rose: I’m about to play Kobe later on today actually.

Complex: What are your predictions?

Derrick Rose: I think I’m going to win. You know he has too much stuff going on right now. [Laughs.] Shit, he’s gotta worry about being the best in the NBA and all this other stuff. Me, I’ve only got to worry about the games. I’m only 20—I don’t got no chicks, he’s got a wife and all that stuff. So there’s way more stuff to worry about.

Complex: So isn’t it going to be awkward when you try and play him with the Lakers?

Derrick Rose: No, I’m going to go with the Bulls on this one but if I wasn’t, it would be the Lakers of course. I will dunk on him though, as me in the game.

Complex: [Laughs.] Good to know. So what else have you been doing before the NBA season starts?

Derrick Rose: Right now my biggest thing is to improve my all-around game. Gotta get back as quickly as possible to my team so we can get can start things early so we can try to jell quick. Our biggest thing as an organization right now is winning. If you don’t win, something’s wrong. Winning takes care of everything, so our biggest thing is winning.

VIDEO: NBA 2K10 Game Trailer

The fact that he's stepping into the role of video game character Max Payne in the new film adaptation from 20th Century Fox says a lot about the game's character and story line. Max Payne was released for PC and PlayStation 2 back in 2001, which speaks volumes about how ahead of its time the shooter was. Sure, he may catch feelings about an SNL skit, but his sensitivity doesn’t negate the fact that Wahlberg can step into any role he wants today. The actor took some time to talk to us about his first videogame role, the future of Entourage and Ludacris’ performance in the new movie…

Interview by John Gaudiosi

Complex: What are your thoughts about the wave of video games being adapted for the big screen in Hollywood today?

Mark Wahlberg: My whole thing is there are only so many stories to tell anyway, so I don't care where they come from as long as they're cool and interesting and I get to play a great character like this.

Complex: Video games play a major role in your hit TV series, Entourage, how much of that is from your life?

Mark Wahlberg: The last time me and the real Turtle, Donnie Carroll, and those guys played games was Sega NHL 92 or 93 when you could fight. But I have a very addictive personality. I can't sit around and smoke weed and play video games. As much as I like to reminisce, I'm a 37-year-old father of three.

Complex: Do you keep an eye on how far video games have come since you used to play them?

Mark Wahlberg: Now I realize how important it is to keep up with technology. I didn't even text message until recently. But I know my kids are going to grow up with computers and everything else and I have to pay attention to what's going on with games and technology to be able to monitor what they're doing. The Wii thing for me is most appealing because you still have to be a little physical with the boxing game. I don't want to have to just have my kids sit in front of the television and do nothing.

Complex: Did you go back and play the game as preparation for this role in Max Payne?

Mark Wahlberg: I didn’t want to play it because I have an addictive personality and I have more responsibility now than I’ve ever had. I don’t want to spend 14 hours on a videogame and then eight hours on the set. It wasn’t going to work out.

Complex: How does it feel to be Max Payne?

Mark Wahlberg: With a movie like this, I don’t necessarily feel cocky, but I feel confident. When you have the material and it’s a good movie, it feels good. You don’t have to lie to people and tell them it’s a good movie. If you’re lucky enough to have five good ones every 15 or 20 movies you make, then you have a good body of work there. I think this movie’s going to be amazing. It’s a very emotional movie. I haven’t felt this way about a movie in quite some time.

Complex: What attracted you to this role?

Mark Wahlberg: I'm a father, so this guy lost his wife and child, he has a license to go off and the audience is going to root for him no matter what. This was just exactly what I wanted to do after playing a science teacher in The Happening and an accountant in The Lovely Bones.

Complex: How did you get into this character?

Mark Wahlberg: One of the things I’m fortunate to have is that I’ve gone through so many different things in my life that it’s easy to go to places fairly easy. I like having my life back. I really tried to dive into this guy and stay in his head for the entire shoot. There were quite a few things that I had in my past and things that were going on in the world that I could think about and get right into that space.

Complex: How did the drug-induced aspect of the film impact what you were doing with this character?

Mark Wahlberg: With Max Payne, the demons and all of those things, I didn’t have to focus on those things. If I can’t believe, then how can I convince an audience? I can’t put my best foot forward. So with this, my character, I never buy into the whole demon thing. I just think these people are all whacked out and they’re crazy. And then obviously I have to take the drug to survive and I experience it.

Complex: How did Max Payne, the character, differ from previous tough guy roles you've done?

Mark Wahlberg: We always talked about…I’d done characters that have showed glimpses of what I hope to accomplish in this movie…show fear in The Departed and Four Brothers. But I wanted to take this to a whole new place and thankfully [director] John [Moore] was also in the head space of doing something that was really layered. I’d already done the guy with few words'one note and that’s it. I wanted to go off and push the envelope.

Click “NEXT” to read Mark talk about the stunts in Max Payne and the future of Entourage.

All week long we’ve been releasing exclusive video interviews with each of the artists from “Leaders of the New Cool.” Monday we had The Cool Kids. Yesterday we had B.O.B. And today we have New York’s new hope, Charles Hamilton, talking about the rise of “individuality rap” and the worst hip-hop style trends of all time. Watch it below…

Related: Did Charles Hamilton Fire Shots?

After performing stand up all over the world and even hosting a short-lived show on Oprah’s O Network, Tony is ready to blow up. We caught up with the Pittsburgh Steelers fan and former star of the Will Smith-produced All of Us to chop it up about his past dreams, his most romantic getaway and why he almost had to whoop another comedian’s ass…

Interview By Damien Scott

Complex: What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had?

Tony Rock: Probably drowning. I can't swim in real life, so it can really happen.

Complex: Do you plan on learning to swim?

Tony Rock: I've always wanted to take swimming lessons. When I first started making a little bit of money that was one of the things that was on the top of my list to do.

Complex: What is your favorite body part of the opposite sex?

Tony Rock : The face. Tits are nice, ass is nice, but if you got an ugly face, it doesn't matter.

Complex: What's the worst lie you've ever told?

Tony Rock : Probably something along the lines of… I didn't sleep with your friend.

Complex: How did that go over?

Tony Rock: All the evidence pointed towards the opposite. It was the worst. All signs were saying I was lying. My commitment was admirable.

Complex: What was the one career, besides comedy, you wish you pursued?

Tony Rock: Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't even care what position. It started off as quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, now it's just on the team somewhere.

Complex: Did you play football?

Tony Rock: When I was a kid I played quarterback and cornerback. I stopped in high school'we didn't have a football team. I'd love to try out.

Complex: In your opinion, what's the best song to have sex to?

Tony Rock: That's a good one. I'm trying to think of something short, so it seems like you went a long time cause you went for the whole record. [Laughs]. A snippet.

Complex: [Laughs] Like a ringtone?

Tony Rock: Like a Sade snippet so it seems like you went for a long time.

Complex: When you go to the club, would you rather pop bottles or take straight shots?

Tony Rock: I'd say take shots, that's when you're really partying. Poppin' bottles is all image. Taking shots is like you really came to party. Patron chilled is my favorite shot.

Complex: What's the sexiest vacation spot to take a woman?

Tony Rock: Well, I'm a city boy, born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, so I would say…Queens.

Complex: Queens…New York?

Tony Rock: Yeah.

Complex: No exotic islands or anything like that? Just up the Jackie Robinson?

Tony Rock: Man, I'm from the hood.

Complex: When was the last time you had to whoop someone's ass?

Tony Rock: Unfortunately, it was a few weeks ago. I had to beat up another comic.

Complex: Who was the comedian?

Tony Rock: Eh, I don't want to say, it would start it up all over again. He's nobody famous. I'm just very protective of my brothers, as they are of me.

Complex: What'd he say?

Tony Rock: My brother was on stage and he was just going on and on about how he should get off stage because he was trying to go on. And besides from the fact that that's Chris Rock on stage, you should be quiet and let him do what he does. If I'm in the club and Dave Chappelle comes on the stage, I just got to deal with it. He just didn't seem to understand the hierarchy of comedy. So I had to confront him. I was like, you're being disrespectful, besides from the fact that that's my brother, he's Chris Rock. He started arguing, I started arguing. I shut up, but he just kept going, like, Who the fuck you talking to? You gonna get hurt. So after about 15 minutes I was like, Dude you're still talking, I'm done talking. And he was like, So what do you want to do, you want to go outside? I don't think he thought I was really going to go outside, but I just started walking, so when I walked outside, he was like, Oh shit, he really took me up on the offer. And then I whooped his ass. Jack Johnson style. Then he wanted to have the talk.

Complex: Where was this?

Tony Rock: Sunset Blvd.

Complex: Who would you rather be, the President of the United States or the richest man in the world?

Tony Rock: You could do more with the power of the president than the money. I'd say President of the Unite States. Just so I can be in the club and say, Bitch, I'm the President.

Complex : What is your one comfort food?

Tony Rock: Turkey Burgers. My sister makes a mean turkey burger. My favorite spot to get them is in New York on Broadway called Lucky Burger. They're big and delicious. They're neck and neck with my sisters’.

Complex: When you get really sad, is there a special spot you go to cheer yourself up?

Tony Rock: Queens. I go to White Castle on Queens Blvd.

Complex: I was just there the other day.

Tony Rock: Then you know. It cheers me up every time.

Complex: Who do you think hates you the most?

Tony Rock: All other young black comics because they think everything I got is because of my brother.

Related: Getting To Know Flavor Flav (Interview)

Each day this week, we’re releasing a new video interview with one of the artists featured in the article. After kicking things off with The Cool Kids yesterday, we’re turning our attention to the kid they call B.O.B. If you don’t know this offbeat Atlanta native, now is the time to get familiar. Watch the behind the scenes video below to hear him discuss his place in hip-hop’s new class…

Related: 'Leaders Of The New Cool' Week: The Cool Kids